The Most Pathetic Bio of Jonathan Edwards Ever

Jonathan Edwards was born on October 5, 1703, in East Windsor, Connecticut. His parents were Timothy and Sarah Edwards, who already had four daughters, and were to have six more daughters after Jonathan. Since all 10 of his sisters grew close to six feet, people spoke of Timothy Edwards’ “sixty feet of daughters.”

Jonathan was educated at home, primarily by his father, though Timothy regularly involved Jonathan’s older sisters in the process. Evidently JE had much scholastic aptitude and ability as he entered The Collegiate School of Connecticut in New Haven, CN (later to be named Yale) in 1716 at the age of 12. From early childhood he had interest in languages, nature, and insects in particular.

He grew up in a pastor’s home but did not profess faith until he was in his late teens. In his “Personal Narrative” Edwards described his conversion that took place sometime in the late spring of 1721:

The first instance that I remember of that sort of inward, sweet delight in God and divine things that I have lived much in since, was on reading those words [1 Timothy 1:17] “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever, Amen.” As I read those words, there came into my soul, and was as it were diffused through it, a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense, quite different from anything I had ever experienced before. Never any words of Scripture seemed to me as these words did. I thought with myself, how excellent a Being that was, and how happy I should be, if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up in Him in heaven, and be as it were swallowed up in Him forever!

He completed his BA in 1720 and then finished his master’s degree in May of 1722. He accepted a call in August, 1722 (19 years old) to preach for a new congregation in New York. It was during this time that he wrote his Resolutions. He pastored there only from August to April of the next year when the new congregation decided to join back with the old split.

After visiting his parents in East Windsor and doing some other travels, he returned to (now called) Yale College as a tutor in the summer of 1724.

He was only at Yale for two years when he received a call in 1726 to be the assistant pastor in Northampton, MA, alongside his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. It was generally assumed that JE would ultimately take over for the aging Stoddard.

Within six months he married Sarah Pierpont. Sarah Edwards is worth not only her own post, but perhaps her own blog. You can read Marriage to a Difficult Man by Elizabeth Dodd, or for a brief look you can read or listen to Noel Piper’s biographical sketch in Part one of A God Entranced Vision of All Things. Sarah enabled Jonathan’s prolificacy while taking care of the eleven children. She was an uncommon woman, and Edwards described their relationship as “an uncommon union.”

They had 11 children, and you can imagine that life at the Edwards house was always busy. Remember, there were no refrigerators, let alone supermarkets. Everything they ate — save cheese and chocolates which were purchased in Boston — they grew or raised or prepared from scratch. Some of their clothes were purchased in the city, but most apparel was likewise made at home.

And they always had visitors. We can be thankful for the Edwards’ hospitality because some of their guests provided a helpful biographical window. In a day when there were few if any hotels, the pastor’s house was commonly assumed to be a safe and inviting place to find lodging. Not only did the Edwards host these transient visitors, but it was also common for young pastors to get some live-in training, and there was no shortage of Edwardsian interns either.

Within two years of arriving, Stoddard died and Edwards became the sole pastor. He preached every week, multiple times. The church in Northampton was arguably the most influential congregation in New England outside of Boston. This was partly due to its size with some 200 families, partly due to Solomon Stoddard’s popularity and influence, and certainly due to Edward’s own increasing renown.

He preached and studied and wrote and prayed and counseled; all the things a pastor does. As mentioned already, he saw at least two great seasons of awakening in Northampton. He was often asked to preach in other towns as well and was one of the Great Awakenings’ most recognized and instrumental figures.

His third pastorate was a bit different, located in a frontier village called Stockbridge. After spending over 23 years in Northampton, he was only in Stockbridge from 1751 until 1758. There he ministered to a small group of white settlers and a large group of Indians. During these years he wrote some of his most weighty works, such as The Freedom of the Will and On Original Sin.

In September of 1757 his son-in-law, Aaron Burr (married to JE’s daughter Esther) died. Reverend Aaron Burr (to be distinguished from his grandson by the same name who shot the man on the $20 bill) had been the president of a new school, The College of New Jersey (later to be called Princeton). So the trustees of the school invited Edwards to be the president. He reluctantly accepted the position and left his family in Stockbridge while he went ahead to prepare things in New Jersey.

But he was only there from February 16 to March 22, dying from a complication of a new smallpox vaccine. When the news of his death reached Sarah in Stockbridge, she was suffering with rheumatism so much so that she could hardly hold a pen. Even so, she wrote this letter to Esther:

What shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. O that we may kiss the rod, and lay our hands on our mouths! The Lord has done it. He has made me adore His goodness, that we had him so long. But my God lives; and He has my heart. O what a legacy my husband, and your father has left us! We are all given to God; and there I am, and love to be.