Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards-A STRONG ROD BROKEN

 

98. God’s Awful Judgment. The manuscript of this sermon is dated, “On the occasion of the death of Col. Stoddard June 1748.” It consists of fifty-two pages of the usual size of Edwards’s manuscript sermons, but with the unusual feature of being written in double columns. The paper used was partly that of letters addressed to Edwards, the writing being in places across the address, and the stamp marks being removed; partly—about twenty pages—pieces of fine, soft paper, deep cut around the upper edges, believed to be scraps of the paper used by Mrs. Edwards and her daughters in making fans. The sermon is evidently written under high pressure, with few corrections, and reasonably fully. The title page of the first edition reads as follows: “A Strong Rod broken and withered. 

A Sermon Preached in Northampton, on the Lord’s Day, June 26. 1748 On the Death of The Honourable John Stoddard, Esq. Often a Member of his Majesty’s Council, For many Years Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Hampshire, Judge of the Probate of Wills, and Chief Colonel of the Regiment, &c. Who died in Boston on June 19. 1748. in the 67th Year of his Age. By Jonathan Edwards A.M. Pastor of the first Church in Northampton. Dan. iv. 35—He doth according to his Will in the Army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the Earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto Him, What dost thou? Boston Printed by Rogers and Fowle for J. Edwards in Cornhill 1748.” 

Colonel Stoddard was the eighth child and fourth son of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, and therefore Edwards’s uncle on his mother’s side. He was a man of great prominence in all the leading affairs of the town, the county, and the colony. “His life,” says Trumbull (History of Northampton, Vol. II, p. 172), “was the connecting link between the two series of great leaders who controlled the affairs of Western Massachusetts for nearly a century and three-quarters. His predecessors were John Pynchon of Springfield and Samuel Partridge of Hatfield; following him came Joseph Hawley and Caleb Strong of Northampton, and these five men were the leaders in the Colony, the Province, and the State.” He was a stalwart upholder of royalty and the royal prerogative, and for this reason, had many opponents, but the general esteem in which he was held is evidenced by his many offices and by the fact that he was seventeen times reelected the representative of the county to the General Court. He was a valued friend of Governor Shirley, in connection with whom there is a characteristic story of him. He once called and asked to see the Governor when the latter had a party dining with him, but declined the servant’s invitation to come in. 

The company was surprised and shocked at what they regarded as an act of discourtesy to the chief magistrate. “What is the gentleman’s name?” asked the Governor. “I think,” replied the servant, “he told me his name was Stoddard.” “Is it?” said the Governor. “Excuse me, gentlemen, if it is Col. Stoddard, I must go to him.” (From Dwight’s Travels, Vol. I, p. 332, quoted by Trumbull, op. cit. p. 173.) His death removed one of Edwards’s strongest supporters and probably contributed to the tragic issue of the great controversy in which the preacher was now engaged. In this connection, it is interesting to find that Colonel Stoddard in 1736 helped to lay out the township of Stockbridge and that he had much to do toward establishing the mission to the Indians there, to the conduct of which Edwards was called after his dismissal from Northampton. Edwards’s sermon is a eulogy, but there is every reason to suppose that it gives on the whole a just impression of Stoddard’s character, services, and attainments. On him, see further Trumbull, op. cit. Vol. II, Chap. xiii. 

116. Present war. King George’s French and Indian War (1744-1748-9). As commander of the Hampshire forces, Colonel Stoddard directed the military operations in that part of the country until his death. Major Israel Williams of Hatfield, who later succeeded to the command, writing under the date of June 25, 1748, to Secretary Willard, says: “We are now like sheep without a shepherd... God has been pleased to take him (who was in a great measure our wisdom and strength and glory) from us at a time when we could least spare him.” (Trumbull, op. cit. Vol. II, p. 158.)