"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."Matthew 5:9
PART 2: The Power of Peace: On December 26, 1722 a young man named Jonathan Edwards scratched onto a piece of paper the following resolution: "Resolved, always to do what I can towards making, maintaining, and establishing peace, when it can be without over-balancing detriment in other respects."
Here we meet a then-unknown young man anxious to cause no needless division. Years later, during his difficult pastorate at Northampton, Edwards would oversee a congregation marked by strife, gossip, and interpersonal tension. Indeed, much of this tension was directed at him. After serving the church for 25 years, the congregation fired him because of his biblical teachings.
What is amazing is Edward's steadfast commitment to peace in the midst of difficulty. In his personal diary he writes of his need to "pray more heartily this night for the forgiveness of my enemies, than ever before". In another entry he noted his strict refusal to speak ill about another person, or to promote the slanderous gossip of others. After the congregation fired him, he delivered perhaps one of the most tender and loving farewell sermons ever recorded. He even stayed on for another year, at the church's request, until they could find a replacement minister!
Peace was incredibly important to Edwards. But he recognized true peace could never be achieved through "over-balancing"--his word for sacrificing principle. One biographer of Edwards writes that "such peace is no peace; only a momentary truce at the price of truth" [1]. Peace and truth were two principles that Edwards held in balance. His commitment to the truth gave him the boldness to stand firm with Scripture, despite the personal cost. But it was his commitment to peace that gave him the power to love and forgive those who treated him so poorly.
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[1] Steven J.Lawson, The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards (Reformation Trust, 2008) 133.
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