Memoir of Jonathan Edwards

His most usual exercise in summer was riding on horseback, and walking, and in his ride and walks he appears to have decided, before leaving home, on what subjects to meditate. He generally carried pen and ink with him to note any important thoughts which occurred. In winter he would replace this exercise by half an hour, or more, of chopping wood.

The Edwards’ home was the scene of unusual domestic happiness. In July, 1727, he had married Sarah Pierrepont, the seventeen year old daughter of the minister at New Haven, a young lady who was noted for her uncommon beauty and spiritual character. While at Yale, at the age of twenty, Edwards had recorded concerning his future wife who was then thirteen, “she seems to be always full of joy and pleasure and loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her.” The spiritual union that existed between Edwards and his wife was to cause many visitors to see the blessing of a godly wife in a new light. George Whitefield, after spending a few days with them, wrote, “A sweeter couple I have not seen. Their children were dressed, not in silks and satins, but plain, as becomes the children of those who in all things ought to be examples of Christian simplicity. She is a woman adorned with a meek and quiet spirit, and talked so feelingly and so solidly of the things of God, and seemed to be such an helpmeet to her husband, that she caused me to renew those prayers which for some months I have put up to God, that He would send me a daughter of Abraham to be my wife.”

Three sons and eight daughters were born into the home at Northampton, and Edwards paid great care to their upbringing. “In the evening, after tea,” writes Dwight, “he customarily sat in the parlour, with his family, for an hour, unbending from the severity of study, entering freely into the feelings and concerns of his children, and relaxing into cheerful and animated conversation, accompanied frequently with sprightly remarks, and sallies of wit and humour. But, before retiring to his study, he usually gave the conversation, by degrees, a more serious turn, addressing his children, with great tenderness and earnestness, on the subject of their salvation; when the thought that they were still strangers to religion would often affect him so powerfully, as to oblige him to withdraw, in order to conceal his emotions.” He set apart most of Saturday evening for teaching the children the Westminster Assembly’s Shorter Catechism, explaining each part, asking them questions and causing them to learn it by heart.

Two extracts from his letters to his children when they were away from home will illustrate the lessons which were continually held before them. Writing to his fifteen year old daughter Mary, in July, 1749, he says:—

“I hope that you will maintain a strict and constant watch over yourself, against all temptations, that you do not forsake and forget God, and particularly, that you do not grow slack in secret religion. Eetire often from this vain world, from all its bubbles and empty shadows, and vain amusements, and converse with God alone; and seek effectually for that divine grace and comfort, the least drop of which is worth more than all the riches, gaiety, pleasures, and entertainments of the whole world.”

A characteristic note of Edwards’ ministry comes out in the following quotation from a letter to his son Timothy:—

“In God’s favour is life, and His loving-kindness is better than life. Whether you are in sickness or health, you infinitely need this. But you must know, however great need you stand in of it, you do not deserve it: neither is God the more obliged to bestow it upon you for your standing in need of it, your earnest desiring of it, your crying to Him constantly for it from fear of misery, and taking much pains. Till you have savingly believed in Christ, all your desires, and pains, and prayers lay God under no obligation; and, if they were ten thousand times as great as they are, you must still know, that you would be in the hands of a sovereign God, who hath mercy on whom He will have mercy. Indeed, God often hears the poor miserable cries of sinful vile creatures, who have no manner of true regard to Him in their hearts; for He is a God of infinite mercy, and He delights to show mercy for His Son’s sake, who is worthy, though you are unworthy, who came to save the sinful and the miserable, yea, some of the chief of sinners. Therefore, there is your only hope; and in Him must be your refuge, who invites you to come to Him, and says, “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.’ “

Edwards and his wife were to have the joy of seeing the blessed effects of educating their children for God. When, for instance, their daughter Jerusha died at the age of seventeen, she was able to say on her death-bed “that she had not seen one minute, for several years, wherein she desired to live one minute longer, for the sake of any other good in life, but doing good, living to God, and doing what might be for His glory.”

It now only remains to record Edwards’ personal narrative of some of his spiritual experiences while at Northampton. This biographical material is of such value that we give it in full:

“Since I came to Northampton, I have often had sweet complacency in God, in views of His glorious perfections, and of the excellency of Jesus Christ. God has appeared to me a glorious and lovely Being, chiefly on account of His holiness. The holiness of God has always appeared to me the most lovely of all His attributes. The doctrines of God’s absolute sovereignty, and free grace, in showing mercy to whom He would show mercy; and man’s absolute dependence on the operations of God’s Holy Spirit, have very often appeared to me as sweet and glorious doctrines. These doctrines have been much of my delight. God’s sovereignty has ever appeared to me a great part of His glory. It has often been my delight to approach God, and adore Him as a sovereign God, and ask sovereign mercy of Him.

“I have loved the doctrines of the gospel; they have been to my soul like green pastures. The gospel has seemed to me the richest treasure; the treasure that I have most desired, and longed that it might dwell richly in me. The way of salvation by Christ has appeared in a general way, glorious and excellent, most pleasant and most beautiful. It has often seemed to me, that it would be in a great measure spoil heaven, to receive it in any other way. That text has often been affecting and delightful to me, Isa. xxxii, 2, ‘A man shall be an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest,’ etc.

“It has often appeared to me delightful, to be united to Christ; to have Him for my Head, and to be a member of His body; also to have Christ for my Teacher and Prophet. I very often think with sweetness, and longings, and pantings of soul, of being a little child, taking hold of Christ, to be led by Him through the wilderness of this world. That text, Matt, xviii. 3, has often been sweet to me, ‘Except ye be converted and become as little children,’ etc. I love to think of coming to Christ, to receive salvation of Him, poor in spirit, and quite empty of self, humbly exalting Him alone; cut off entirely from my own root, in order to grow into and out of Christ: to have God in Christ to be all in all; and to live, by faith on the Son of God, a life of humble, unfeigned confidence in Him. That Scripture has often been sweet to me, Psalm cxv. 1. ‘Not unto us,

O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.’ And those words of Christ, Luke x. 21, ‘In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.’ That sovereignty of God which Christ rejoiced in, seemed to me worthy of such joy; and that rejoicing seemed to show the excellency of Christ, and of what spirit He was.

“Sometimes, only mentioning a single word caused my heart to burn within me; or only seeing the name of Christ, or the name of some attribute of God. And God has appeared glorious to me, on account of the Trinity. It has made me have exalting thoughts of God, that He exists in three persons; Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The sweetest joys and delights I have experienced have not been those that have arisen from a hope of my own good estate; but in a direct view of the glorious things of the gospel. When I enjoy this sweetness, it seems to carry me above the thoughts of my own estate; it seems at such times a loss that I cannot bear, to take off my eye from the glorious, pleasant object I behold without me, to turn my eye in upon myself, and my own good estate.

“My heart has been much on the advancement of Christ’s kingdom in the world. The histories of the past advancement of Christ’s kingdom have been sweet to me. When I have read histories of past ages, the pleasantest thing in all my reading has been, to read of the kingdom of Christ being promoted. And when I have expected, in my reading, to come to any such thing, I have rejoiced in the prospect all the way as I read. And my mind has been much entertained and delighted with the Scripture promises and prophecies, which relate to the future glori-ous advancement of Christ’s kingdom upon earth.

“I have sometimes had a sense of the excellent fulness of Christ, and His meetness and suitableness as a Saviour; whereby He has appeared to me, far above all, the chief of ten thousands. His blood and atonement have appeared sweet, and His righteousness sweet; which was always accompanied with ardency of spirit; and inward struggling and breathings, and groanings that cannot be uttered, to be emptied of myself, and swallowed up in Christ.

(To be continued)

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