Logic on Fire

Jonathan Edwards and “The Religious Affections”

This post continues the For the Love of God series with the Session Two message from the 06SR. The audio file for this message is also available for download.

The 16th century Reformation resulted in the creation of numerous Protestant denominations and groups — as compared to the monolithic Catholic Church. Under the threat of persecution many of these groups headed to the New World in hopes of establishing a society and culture that would allow them the freedom to worship as they desired.

Perhaps the most influential of these groups were the Puritans. Like the Reformers, the Puritans believed in basic doctrines like sola scriptura — the authority of the Bible alone, and sola fide — justification by faith alone, and, as their very name suggests, they placed a heavy emphasis on moral purity.

But even though much of the motivation for crossing the Atlantic was religious, this inspiration didn’t last long. In fact, religious affection and zeal declined even as the first generation of settlers died. There were just so many opportunities that occupied their interests, be they business projects, real estate acquisition, or other commodities. In other words, the New World was full of broken cisterns.

Yet almost everyone still went to church. Especially in New England, most remained a part of the church not only because of tradition, but also because some of the colonial rights — like voting — were open only to church members (remember that a United States federal government system was not yet in existence). By the early years of the 1700s, the churches of New England were slowly filling up with unconverted members. Personal love for God was absent but people still filled the pews.

The presence of these unconverted church members eventually hit a crisis point. Since many of the churches at the time were practicing infant baptism, were the children of these unsaved members to be baptized?

Eventually the ministers of New England devised what became known as the Half-Way Covenant, perhaps promoted most by JE’s grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. The Half-Way covenant allowed church members who did not profess salvation to have their children baptized as long as they were not “scandalous livers.” It was called the Half-Way Covenant because of the two ordinances, they got one. At this point they were still prohibited from participating in the Lord’s Supper until they professed faith in Christ.

Though the motivation of the Half-Way Covenant was to keep people happy and coming to church that they might at least sit under good preaching, the Half-Way Covenant continued to increase the number of unsaved church members. Perhaps the majority of church attenders were not believers. Whether motivated by family tradition or societal privileges or something else, they were not motivated by genuine love for God. In fact, there was no guarantee that even ministers were converted.

They needed a revival.