Jonathan and Sarah Edwards: A Legacy of Faith

A LEGACY OF FAITH: JONATHAN AND SARAH EDWARDS

One of my favorite people in history, Jonathan Edwards, witnessed what he deemed a “surprising work of God” historians call the First Great Awakening. Jonathan is best known for his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” While this sermon was used of God to bring a mighty awakening at Enfield, Connecticut in 1741, it does not represent adequately this Puritan’s preaching or his life. One of the most brilliant men ever born in America, Edwards’ place in early American Christianity endures with few peers.

A lesser known feature of Edwards concerns his rich heritage. He was born on October 5, 1703, the only son among 11 children to the Rev. and Mrs. Timothy Edwards. Timothy and Esther Stoddard lived in the same modest home all 63 years of their marriage. Young Jonathan quickly distinguished himself as a prodigy. He graduated as valedictorian from Yale at 16. He eventually came to pastor a Congregationalist church in Northampton, Massachusetts. This pastorate would become a lightning rod for the growing thunderclouds of awakening.

Jonathan’s love for God began early in life. He spent days of prayer and fasting often through the course of each year as a child. His Memoirs record that as a boy of only seven or eight he prayed five times daily in secret prayer. He and his schoolmates built a booth in a swamp designed to be a place of prayer.

Jonathan married Sarah Pierrepont on July 28, 1727. A woman of “uncommon beauty,” Sarah was known for her gentle spirit, kindness, and deep devotion. Jonathan and Sarah were as different in personalities as they were similar in convictions. Jonathan was the introverted scholar, content to spend 13 hours daily in his study. Sarah thoroughly enjoyed conversation with others. Both were deeply committed to Christ; in fact, it was Sarah’s devotion to the Lord which drew Jonathan to her.

The Edwards had 11 children, 3 sons and 8 daughters. Sarah prayed consistently for their children. She disciplined her children with gentleness and firmness. The children demonstrated great respect for their parents, rising from their seats whenever their mother or father entered the room. Jonathan also took part in the rearing of their children, but the remarkable torrents of revival and his proclivity toward studying often occupied his time. He was always available for his family, but Sarah bore the greatest load in rearing the children.

In 1734-35, an outpouring of the Spirit filled Northampton and the surrounding towns with a spirit of revival. The Great Awakening had come to Massachusetts! Sarah personally experienced a deep, lasting personal revival during the awakening.

Sarah’s testimony displayed the real struggles of a minister’s wife. On one occasion, she wrestled over the temptation to be envious of other ministers. After revival came to their church, Jonathan would occasionally journey for weeks at a time to preach in other churches. In 1742, a Rev. Buell came to fill Jonathan’s pastorate while he was away. Sarah worried that God might bless the ministry of the visiting minister more than her husband. She finally yielded her will to God’s, saying: “I had to bless God, for the use he had made of Mr. Edwards hitherto; but thought, if He never blessed his labors any more, and should greatly bless the labours of other ministers, I could entirely acquiesce in His will.”[1] Following this confession, Sarah could rejoice that God indeed blessed the ministry of brother Buell, saying: “I rejoiced when I saw the honour which God put upon him, and the respect paid him by the people, and the greater success attending his preaching, than had followed Mr. Edwards.” She added, “the sweet language of my soul continually was, ‘Amen, Lord Jesus! Amen, Lord Jesus!’”[2] Can there be any doubt that the example of Sarah Edwards to accept and encourage this guest minister aided the continual work of the Spirit? What an example to us, in a day in which competition or recognition among believers often drive our involvement in the Lord’s church.

George Whitefield, the mighty preacher of revival in Britain and the American Colonies, offered an eyewitness report of the Edwards’ home in October 1740. Whitefield considered Jonathan to be without peer in New England. “A sweeter couple I have not yet seen,” Whitefield recorded in his Journal, adding: “Mrs. Edwards is adorned with a meek and quiet spirit; she talked freely and solidly of the things of God, and seemed to be such a helpmeet for her husband.”[3]

The genuineness of Sarah Edwards’ devotion to God is seen in a letter to daughter, Susannah, immediately following Jonathan’s untimely death in 1758: “What shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. . . . The Lord has done it. He has made me adore His goodness, that we had [Jonathan] so long. But my God lives; and He has my heart.”[4]

The legacy left by the Edwards family is as fascinating as the study of their lives. Over four hundred descendants of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards have been traced. Of these, fourteen became college presidents, roughly one hundred became professors, another one hundred ministers, and about the same number became lawyers or judges. Nearly sixty became doctors, and others were authors or editors. The Edwards family pictures Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

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