As a parish minister, he was successful only so long as he worked closely in the shadow of his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, the powerful and liberal "bastard of the [Connecticut River] valley," with whom Edwards shared the Northampton pulpit for several years and whose practices of liberal admissions to the sacrament he continued even after assuming the pulpit on his own.
Edwards's career follows the parabolic curve of a tragic drama. His ministry was initially responsible for the vast emotional upheaval that disturbed New England during the 1730s and 1740s and was later known as the Great Awakening. As a preacher known to the general population of his time, Edwards was immensely successful. But as a parish minister, his life was agonizing and frustrating, ending ultimately in what amounts to a church trial and dismissal, as Patricia Tracy's excellent book on the subject makes clear. He had extremely poor relations with his congregation in Northampton, resulting in petty squabbles over the cost of his meager clothing (the price of a hat, in one instance) and his more extensive quarrel in 1744 that was based on his tactless and unfortunate public reading of a list of persons from his congregation involved in immoral practices, such as the use of foul language and the reading of a prohibited book, Midwifery Rightly Represented .
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