愛德華滋與第一次大覺醒JonathanEdwards and the First Great Awakening
作者: Stephen J. Nichols 譯者: Maria Marta
1716年5月10日，約拿單‧愛德華滋（Jonathan Edwards）給他的十個姐妹之一瑪麗寫了一封信。當時他十二歲，這是已知他最早寫的一封信。第一段是關於覺醒。 也就是說，我們現存愛德華滋最早寫的一句話是關於覺醒。 愛德華滋寫道：
「因著上帝奇妙的憐憫與良善，這個地方有一種異常明顯的激動，上帝將祂的靈澆灌下來，現在仍然如此，我想我有理由相信它在某種程度上減弱了，但希望不是太多。大約有十三人加入教會，大家都處於一種完全交流的狀態…… 我想每逢周一通常約有三十人與父親談論他們靈魂的狀況。」
他接著告訴她，阿比蓋爾、漢娜、露西，還有三個姐妹都得了水痘，他自己也得了牙痛。 但愛德華滋對這次覺醒的描寫，在關於他父親在康涅狄格州東溫莎（East Windsor, Conn.）事奉的教會的報告中占著主導地位。
在耶魯大學畢業後，愛德華滋在馬薩諸塞州的北安普頓（Northampton, Mass.）擔任助理牧師。他的外祖父斯托達德（Solomon Stoddard）擔任牧師。兩年後，斯托達德去世，愛德華滋成為新英格蘭殖民地（the New England
Colonies）第二大教會的主任牧師，也是唯一的牧師。1731年，愛德華滋應邀在哈佛大學畢業典禮上發表相應的星期四演講。對新英格蘭的神職人員來說，哈佛畢業典禮就像超級盃（美式職業足球的總冠軍賽）。所有人都來觀看。愛德華滋向神職人員講道，當中許多人的牧會時間要比愛德華滋活著的時間要長得多。愛德華滋的講道題目是：《上帝在救贖工作中得榮耀》（God Glorified in
the Work of Redemption）。這是他公布的第一篇講道，他在講道中宣稱：「上帝因救贖工作中出現救贖子民對祂絕對完全的倚靠而得著榮耀」。也就是說，救恩自始至終都是上帝的工作。愛德華滋總結道：「讓我們唯獨高舉上帝，並將救贖的一切榮耀歸祂他。」
在接下來的三年裡，愛德華滋向他在北安普頓的會眾宣講恩典的教義。 1734年，他作了題為《神性超自然之光》（A Divine and Supernatural
Light）的講道。死人復活得生命；瞎的可以看見福音的榮美；聾的可以聽見基督救贖之工改變人的真理——全因神聖超自然之光。這是人為與自然界的光不能作成的。靈性的覺醒是來自天上的大能作為。
正如以賽亞書五十五章10-11節的應許，上帝聖言的宣講必不徒然返回。 它成就上帝的目的。 從1734年到1736年，在康涅狄格河谷的城鎮和教會都出現了復興。 愛德華滋在他的第一本書中報道了這一點，書名是《對上帝在北安普頓及周邊城鎮歸正成千上萬靈魂的驚人之工的忠實記敘》（A Faithful
Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls
in Northampton and in the Neighboring Towns）（1737）。
愛德華滋的第一封信是關於上帝聖靈傾瀉的描述。他第一篇發表的證道明確宣告上帝在救贖工作中的主權。 他第一本書記錄了一次復興。 覺醒是愛德華滋生活和事奉的主要主題。
但康涅狄格河谷的覺醒只是前奏。 在1740年至1842年期間，上帝帶來另一個聖靈澆灌期，不僅殖民地上上下下的教會被喚醒，連老英格蘭土地上的人民也被喚醒。在老英格蘭，喬治懷特腓（George Whitefield）和約翰衛斯理（John Wesley）、查裏斯衛斯理（Charles Wesley）兩兄弟對數萬人講道 ------大多數是戶外聚會。 不久，懷特腓穿越大西洋，在殖民地向同樣規模的人群講道。懷特腓是個不知疲倦的佈道家，他飛奔往返大西洋，騎馬旅行逾數千英裏。
與此同時，愛德華滋繼續宣講令人信服的福音。 1741年7月8日，愛德華滋在康涅狄格州恩菲爾德(Enfield, Conn.) 參與周三的事奉。他不是預定講員。預定講道的牧師因病無法宣講。伊利劄‧惠洛克(Eleazer Wheelock)------特茅斯學院（Dartmouth College）的創建人和不斷變革、創新的領導者------用肘輕推愛德華滋上講壇。愛德華滋作了標題為《落在忿怒上帝手中的罪人》（Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God）的講道，它可能是美國本土最著名的講道，和最多人閱讀的講章。講稿征服了人群，尖喊聲、哭叫聲響徹會場。愛德華滋並沒有使用演講技巧，也沒有隨著激動振奮的人群喧鬧，反而，等會眾回復平靜後繼續講道。愛德華滋的演講稿沒有運用寫作技巧，而是說出真相，即我們所有人都受到永恆詛咒，都處於永恆審判的懸崖上的真相。上帝忿怒的箭已在弦上，弓已拉緊，箭頭直指我們。我們就像被一根細線吊著的蜘蛛，懸在地獄火坑上，暫時免於火燒。上帝用愛德華滋的話來刺穿人心。
愛德華滋將審判的圖像與救贖的圖像相配。 基督已經「把憐憫之門打開，站在門口哭著對可憐的罪人呼喊。」這是對福音滿懷熱情的表現。
歷史學家稱這段時期為第一次大覺醒。 它仍然是美國歷史上最重要的事件之一。 它有支持者、狂熱份子，也有反對者。狂熱份子包括達文波特（James Davenport）這樣的人。 他經常將牧師描述為「披著羊皮的狼」，他曾為焚燒書籍而帶領公眾篝火，並表現出各種極端行為。雖然他後來寫了撤回書並作出修正，但在大覺醒期間他對覺醒本身造成巨大的傷害。 他的滑稽動作助長了大覺醒詆毀者，包括像查爾斯‧昌西（Charles Chauncy）這樣的人的批評。昌西輕視他在大覺醒中看到的缺乏禮儀的舉止。他支持秩序和更私人的宗教表達。然而，更有問題的是昌西的神學。他是個普救論者。他很清楚自己的時代，所以選擇不發表闡釋他的異端觀點的手稿。但是他從未停止過對大覺醒或其傳道人的批評。
在這些狂熱份子和反對者之間，是上帝使用的，給殖民地帶來覺醒時期的傳道人。愛德華滋 是大覺醒的偉大神學家，懷特腓是大覺醒的偉大佈道家。另外還有人加入到他們當中。坦嫩特（Gilbert Tennent）是愛爾蘭移民，著名的長老會牧師。他作了一次題為《未歸正牧師帶來的危險》（The Danger of an
Unconverted Ministry）的講道。可以想像得到，這次講道導致長老教會新舊兩派分裂。（公理會，愛德華滋漫步的地方，稱分裂為新燈和舊燈。）分裂的另一個因素是在牧師培訓的問題上存在分歧，特別在賓夕法尼亞州內沙米尼（Neshaminy, Pa.）木屋學院 (Log College) 提供培訓的問題上，木屋學院由坦嫩特的父親滕能特(William Tennent) 創立並領導。木屋學院向東遷移，穿過特拉華河(Delaware River)，在命名為普林斯頓之前，更名為新澤西學院。一連兩代，普林斯頓大學培養了受過良好訓練和認信的長老會牧師，以及律師和醫生。1812年，普林斯頓神學院成立，承擔培訓牧師的任務。普林斯頓的寶貴遺產延續到20世紀20年代的梅晨（J. Gresham Machen）時期，這一切都始於第一次大覺醒。
在第一次大覺醒早期，懷特腓在賓夕法尼亞州切斯特縣（Chester County, Pa）的櫟樹橡樹林中講道。超過一萬人前來聽他講道，也就是說幾乎縣內和周邊城鎮上所有的人都來聽他講道。在這段時期，在這片櫟樹橡木林附近，塞繆爾·布萊爾（Samuel Blair）創立了長老教會和他自己版本的木屋學院。布萊爾有一位名叫戴維斯（Samuel Davies）的傑出學生。他是威爾士浸信會（Welsh Baptist）的後裔，後來成為在弗吉尼亞聖公會（Anglicans/Episcopalians in
Virginia）的長老會宣教士。他領導自己的復興，最終，他的成功使他成為聖公會擬定的目標。他們認為他是「不受歡迎的闖入者」。他進行反擊，並贏得在弗吉尼亞傳道的自由，這使戴維斯成為最早主張政教分離的人士之一。戴維斯也寫讚美詩，作品包括《奇妙的上帝》（Great God of
Wonders）。他於1759年接替愛德華滋擔任普林斯頓大學校長。他的任期持續了18個月，於1761年2月4日去世。
第一次大覺醒有它的過激行為和缺點，但它也在它自己的年代——十七世紀四十年代的十年——產生了重大影響，並對美國教會和美國文化發揮了持久的影響。 還有更多的大覺醒。 1825年左右，開始以查爾斯．芬尼（Charles G. Finney）為中心的第二次大覺醒。十九世紀即將結束時，德懷特穆迪（Dwight L. Moody）是第三次大覺醒的中心。更確切地說，19世紀見證了許多復興浪潮，這些浪潮在性質、持續時間和地點上都各不相同。20世紀也步先前復興的後塵，有兩位突出人物，分別是上半葉的比利桑迪(Billy Sunday)和下半葉的葛培理 (Billy Graham)。
所有這些復興都帶出一些相當重要的問題。我們如何看待覺醒和復興？這些都是好事嗎？我們應該為它們禱告嗎？
縱觀美國歷史上有名的大覺醒，毫無疑問，有過激的行動，也有許多不良神學的例子。可悲的是，已造成了許多傷害。盡管如此，我們也可以仔細篩選，找到很多有用的經驗教訓，特別是當我們回到北安普敦和1731-34年時期。愛德華茲純粹是一個忠心牧師，履行他忠心宣講上帝福音的職責。愛德華滋憑信念講道，好像生命要依賴這些信念一樣------因為確實如此。他講道滿懷激情，因為他知道當下的緊迫性。
你可以說有兩種覺醒。一種是換醒人，使人從死亡中復活過來，獲得新生命。這是對可憐罪人的呼喚。（另一種）但即使那些被喚醒的人也需要覺醒。 我們在屬靈的懶惰中沈睡，所以我們被召喚從沈睡中醒過來。 這是對得贖罪人的呼喚。覺醒不是透過人類努力來實現，也不是透過自然手段來實現。我們得以覺醒是唯獨靠著神聖超自然之光-----唯獨上帝的恩典，而且總是為了上帝的榮耀。
Dr.
Stephen J. Nichols (@DrSteveNichols) is president of Reformation Bible College,
chief academic officer for Ligonier Ministries, and a Ligonier Ministries
teaching fellow. He is author of numerous books and host of the podcasts 5
Minutes in Church History and Open Book.
本文原刊於Tabletalk雜誌2018年七月號 。
Jonathan
Edwards and the First Great Awakening
by
Stephen J. Nichols
On
May 10, 1716, Jonathan Edwards wrote a letter to one of his ten sisters, Mary.
Written when he was twelve years old, it is the earliest known letter by
Edwards. The very first paragraph is about awakening. That is to say, the
earliest extant sentence that we have from Jonathan Edwards is about awakening.
Edwards writes:
Dear
Mary,
Through
the wonderful mercy and goodness of God there hath in this place been a very
remarkable stirring and pouring out of the Spirit of God, and likewise now is,
but I think I have reason to think it is in some measure diminished, but I hope
not much. About thirteen have joined the church in an estate of full communion.
. . . I think there comes commonly a-Mondays above thirty persons to speak with
father about the condition of their souls.
He
goes on to let her know that Abigail, Hannah, and Lucy, three other sisters,
all have the chicken pox and that he himself has a toothache. But this time of
awakening dominates Edwards’ report of his father’s church at East Windsor,
Conn.
After
completing his degrees at Yale, Edwards took the post of assistant minister in
Northampton, Mass. His maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, served as
minister. Two years later, Stoddard died and Edwards found himself the senior
and lone minister of the second-largest church in the New England Colonies. In
1731, Edwards was called upon to deliver the Thursday lecture corresponding
with the commencement at Harvard. For the New England clergy, Harvard
commencements were like the Super Bowl. Everyone came out to watch. Edwards
preached to a packed house of clergy, many of whom had pastored for far more
years than Edwards had been alive. Edwards preached the sermon “God Glorified
in the Work of Redemption.” It was his first sermon to be published, and in it
he declared, “God is glorified in the work of redemption in this, that there
appears in it so absolute and universal dependence of the redeemed on God.”
That is to say, salvation is a work of God from start to finish. “Let us exalt
God alone,” Edwards concluded, “and ascribe to Him all the glory of
redemption.”
For
the next three years, Edwards preached the doctrines of grace to his
congregation at Northampton. In 1734, he preached a sermon titled “A Divine and
Supernatural Light.” When dead souls rise to new life, when blind eyes see the
beauty of the gospel, and when deaf ears hear the transforming truth of the
redemptive work of Christ—all of this is because of the divine and supernatural
light. It is not a human or a natural light. Spiritual awakening comes from
heaven above.
As
Isaiah 55:10–11 promises, the preaching of the Word of God did not return void.
It accomplished God’s purpose. From 1734 to 1736, there was a revival in the
towns and churches dotting the Connecticut River Valley. Edwards reported on
this in his first book, A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in
the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton and in the Neighboring
Towns (1737).
Jonathan
Edwards’ first letter was an account of the outpouring of the Spirit of God.
His first published sermon was a clear proclamation of the sovereignty of God
in the work of redemption. His first book chronicled a revival. Awakening was a
dominant theme of the life and ministry of Jonathan Edwards.
Awakening
was a dominant theme of the life and ministry of Jonathan Edwards.
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That
Connecticut River Valley awakening, however, served only as prelude. In
1740–42, God brought about another season of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
as awakening came not only to the churches up and down the Colonies, but also
in the lands of Old England. In Old England, George Whitefield and brothers
John and Charles Wesley preached to tens of thousands—mostly gathered outdoors.
Soon, Whitefield crossed the Atlantic and preached to crowds of similar size in
the Colonies. An indefatigable evangelist, Whitefield crisscrossed the Atlantic
and logged thousands of miles on horseback.
Meanwhile,
Edwards continued his compelling preaching of the gospel. On July 8, 1741,
Edwards was in Enfield, Conn., for a midweek service. He was not the intended
preacher that night. The intended preacher had become ill and was out of
commission. Eleazer Wheelock, who would go on to found Dartmouth College, gave
Edwards the nudge to stand in the pulpit. Edwards delivered what is likely the
most famous and the most read sermon ever preached on American soil, “Sinners
in the Hands of an Angry God.” The drama overwhelmed the crowd. They shrieked
and cried out. But the drama did not stem from Edwards’ technique. Rather than
whoop up the crowd into a frenzy, Edwards waited for the congregation to regain
its composure, and then he pressed on in his sermon. The drama came not in the
technique but in the truth, the truth of eternal damnation, the truth that all
of us are on the precipice of eternal judgment. The bow of God’s wrath is bent,
and the arrow is pointed directly at us. We are like spiders dangling over the
pit of hell, saved from the flames for the time being by a mere thread. God
used Edwards’ words to pierce hearts.
Edwards
equally matched his imagery of judgment with imagery of redemption. Christ has
“flung the door of mercy wide open and stands in the door crying and calling
with a loud voice to poor sinners.” This was passion for the gospel.
Historians
call it the First Great Awakening. It remains one of the most significant
events in United States history. It had proponents, opponents, and zealots. The
zealots included the likes of James Davenport. He routinely characterized
pastors as “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” led public bonfires for the burning of
books, and exhibited all manner of extreme behavior. While he later wrote
retractions and made amends, he caused great harm during the Awakening itself.
His antics fueled the criticisms of the Awakening’s detractors, including men
such as Charles Chauncy. Chauncy looked down on the lack of decorum he saw in
the Awakening. He was for order and a far more private expression of religion.
Much more problematic, though, was the theology of Chauncy. He was a
universalist. Being well aware of his times, he opted not to publish the
manuscript that laid forth the argument for his heretical views. But he never
held back his criticism of the Awakening or of its preachers.
Between
these zealots and opponents stand the ministers used by God to bring a season
of awakening to the Colonies. Edwards was the great theologian of the
Awakening, and Whitefield was the great evangelist of the Awakening. They were
joined by a whole cast of others. Gilbert Tennent was an Irish immigrant and
famous Presbyterian minister. He preached a sermon titled “The Danger of an
Unconverted Ministry.” The sermon, as one might imagine, helped lead to a split
in the Presbyterian church between the New Side and the Old Side. (In the
Congregational churches, where Edwards roamed, the split was referred to as New
Lights and Old Lights.) Another factor in the split was disagreement over
ministerial training, especially concerning the training provided at the Log
College in Neshaminy, Pa., which was founded and led by Gilbert Tennent’s
father, William. The college moved east across the Delaware River and was
renamed The College of New Jersey before it received the name Princeton. For two
generations Princeton University provided well-trained and confessional
Presbyterian ministers as well as lawyers and physicians. In 1812, Princeton
Theological Seminary was founded to take on the task of training ministers.
That great legacy of Princeton, which endured through the time of J. Gresham
Machen in the 1920s, all started at the First Great Awakening.
In
the early days of the First Great Awakening, Whitefield preached in an oak
grove in Chester County, Pa. More than ten thousand people came to hear him
preach, which is to say nearly every single person in the county and
surrounding towns came to hear him preach. During this time and near this oak
grove, Samuel Blair founded a Presbyterian church and his own version of the
Log College. Blair had one standout pupil, Samuel Davies. Of Welsh Baptist
descent, Davies would become a Presbyterian missionary in Anglican Virginia. He
led his own revivals, and eventually his success made him a target for the
established Anglican church. They viewed him as an “unwanted intruder into
these parts.” He fought back and won the freedom to preach in Virginia, making
Davies one of the earliest voices for disestablishmentarianism. Davies also
wrote hymns, including “Great God of Wonders!” He succeeded Jonathan Edwards as
president of Princeton in 1759. His term lasted eighteen months, as he died on
February 4, 1761.
The
First Great Awakening had its excesses and faults, yet it also made a
significant impact during its own time, the decade of the 1740s, and had a
lasting impact on both the American church and American culture. There would be
more Great Awakenings. Beginning around 1825, there was the Second Great
Awakening, with Charles Grandison Finney at the epicenter. Dwight L. Moody is
at the center of the Third Great Awakening as the nineteenth century was coming
to a close. It’s more accurate to say that the nineteenth century witnessed
many waves of revivals that varied in nature, duration, and location. The
twentieth century followed suit, with the two standout figures being Billy
Sunday in the first half and Billy Graham in the second half.
All
of this leads to some rather important questions. What are we to make of
awakening and revivals? Are these good things? Should we pray for them?
No
doubt, there have been excesses, and no doubt, there have been many examples of
bad theology throughout America’s storied history of awakenings. Sadly, much
damage has resulted. Nevertheless, we can sift through it all and find much
that is helpful, especially if we return to Northampton and the years 1731–34.
Edwards was simply being a faithful pastor, carrying out his charge of
faithfully proclaiming the gospel of God. He preached with conviction as if
lives depended on it—because they did. He preached with passion because he knew
of the urgency of the moment.
You
could say awakening comes in two forms. There is the awakening, the raising of
new life out of death. This is the call to poor sinners. But even those who
have been awakened need awakenings. We slumber in our spiritual laziness, and
so we are summoned to wake up. This is the call to redeemed sinners. And it’s
not by human effort or by natural means. We are awakened only and always by a
divine and supernatural light—only by God’s grace and always for God’s glory.
