The Manner in Which the Salvation of the Soul is to be Sought by Jonathan Edwards

As I read, I noticed that this bewigged Puritan spoke of joy more copiously and profusely than any writer I had ever encountered before. I started to gain some ground on my quest when I began to seriously read Jonathan Edwards for my doctoral dissertation. But often instead of being content, I found myself more stressed out, agitated, and irritable than I had been in my whole life. Don’t get me wrong-I’ve loved being a pastor. Part of the problem in my own search for joy, ironically, was my job of pastoral ministry. But if joy is so ubiquitous in Scripture, then why does it seem so elusive in real life? And if we find it, how can we maintain it? A simple word search for “joy” and a few of its variants (enjoy, rejoice, and so on) returns hundreds of occurrences.

So also, Holy Scripture is replete with references to joy. My own confessional heritage reminds me in the first answer of the Shorter Catechism that “man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever” (emphasis added). Despite the universality of our search, many of us have discovered the brutal fact that finding joy-lasting happiness-is more difficult than it would first appear. Still others seek joy in far more nefarious places: illicit drugs, alcohol, unrestrained sexual expression, even the absurdities and banalities of Facebook or hours of television. Others pursue it in thrill-seeking adventures such as rock climbing, base jumping, and sky diving. Some men and women seek joy in romantic relationships or in wealth. Yet the quest to find it-that is, true spiritual happiness-often leads us to seemingly innumerable dead ends. The reason is because we were created for joy. If pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) is correct, then we are all on the same quest. I have been searching for joy my entire life, and I believe I am not alone.

The Manner in Which the Salvation of the Soul is to be Sought by Jonathan Edwards