Congregational clergyman writer of tracts
Justin Edwards was born in Westhampton, Massachusetts, the third child of Justin and Elizabeth (Clark) Edwards, and a direct descendant of Alexander Edwards, who came to America from Wales in 1640 and settled in Springfield, Mass. He was a second cousin of Bela Bates Edwards .
The elder Justin Edwards was a farmer, who allowed his son to go to Williams College, where he graduated in 1810 as valedictorian of his class.
After some experience as a teacher in Athens, New York, he entered Andover Theological Seminary, at Andover, Massachusetts, then a center of orthodox Calvinism, in March 1811.
Before he could complete his course, he was elected pastor of the South Church, in Andover, being ordained on December 2, 1812.
His service continued until 1827, when he resigned to accept the agency of the American Temperance Society.
On Jan. 1, 1828, he was installed as pastor of the Salem Street Church, in Boston, but his health broke down and he was soon obliged to abandon his clerical duties.
In 1829 he took a position as corresponding secretary of the American Temperance Society, in which capacity he traveled over a large section of the United States and published a series of pamphlets called the Permanent Temperance Documents which had a large circulation.
He maintained his permanent residence in Andover, however, and, on Sept. 7, 1836, was inaugurated as president of Andover Theological Seminary, his salary for five years having been guaranteed by the philanthropist, William Bartlet.
On Apr. 19, 1842, when funds for the position were no longer forthcoming, he resigned.
He was the author of several widely popular tracts, including: A Well Conditioned Farm, A Sermon on the Way to be Saved (1826), On the Traffic in Ardent Spirit, and A Sermon on the Unction from the Holy One (1830), and many of his sermons were published as pamphlets.
The American Temperance Society circulated more pamphlets from his pen than from that of any other man.
He was an uncompromising Calvinist in his theology.
At the formation of the American and Foreign Sabbath Union in 1842, he was chosen secretary, and, during the next seven years, covered more than 48, 000 miles and prepared the Permanent Sabbath Documents, of which more than 600, 000 copies were printed.
American Temperance Society
New England Tract Society
Andover Theological Seminary
American and Foreign Sabbath Union
He was tall and erect, with a reserved and stately bearing which often wrongly seemed to be austerity. He was rather awkward in manner, with few oratorical graces, but his homely sincerity impressed his congregations.
