time to sleep. 5. Shall seldom be troubled with the head-ache.183
Sereno Dwight, "then arranged them under their proper heads, ready for subsequent use; of regularly strengthening the faculty of thinking and reasoning, by constant and powerful exercise; and above all of gradually molding himself into a thinking being."182
A Chocolate Lover
Jonathan was determined to take time to think about the implications of what he observed, going so far as to skip dinner if it threatened to interrupt the flow of his thinking. As he had done to everything else in his life, he had carefully observed and analyzed which foods best suited his mental labor.
Some said that his discipline in eating left him thin and frequently ill, but Jonathan evidently gave great consideration to his diet. He wrote,
By a sparingness in diet, and eating, as much as may be, what is light and easy of digestion, I shall doubtless be able to think clearer, and shall gain time. 1. By lengthening out my life. 2. Shall need less time for digestion after meals. 3. Shall be able to study closer without wrong to my health. 4. Shall need less time to sleep. 5. Shall seldom be troubled with the head-ache.183
There is one hint that his disciplined lifestyle had at least a small indulgence. He loved chocolate, which came in "cakes," and could be melted and served as a beverage consumed at breakfast. A letter remains of his request that a courier to Boston be sure to procure chocolate for him. 184 "Though he never totally abandoned his strict spiritual discipline, he did look back on these early days with mature eyes and declare it a time of 'too great a dependence on my own strength; which afterwards proved a great damage to me.'"185
The created world he loved to study also caused him to grapple with bigger questions, such as the reason that God created the world in the first place. What desire of God could creation possibly satisfy? In his recorded thoughts of his analysis, Jonathan concluded that God gains nothing from creating; His happiness in Himself is perfect, and nothing can be added to it. But God desired creatures who could see and enjoy the beauty of that perfection—His glory. Jonathan said that everything God has done is for the single purpose of the love and praise of His intelligent, created beings.
The natural world presented Jonathan with all kinds of opportunities to glean spiritual lessons. For example, he once saw a cat taunting a mouse and said it reminded him of how the devil does the same with wicked men. At one point in his life, he had been terrified of thunderstorms, but after his conversion he could interpret them differently. He wrote,
Before I used to be uncommonly terrified with thunder…but now, on the contrary, it rejoiced me. I felt God, so to speak, at the first appearance of a thunder storm; and used to take the opportunity, at such time…see the lightnings play, and hear the majestic and awful voice of God's thunder.186
Jonathan pored over the works of Isaac Newton, intrigued by his findings that the universe operated by certain laws—some of which could even be represented mathematically. He interpreted those findings and concluded that God is a God of order.
A Culture Writer?
Fortunately for us, Jonathan Edwards was also faithful to publish the conclusions of his interpretations. Not surprisingly, he had rules for writing, warning himself to "display modesty of style and to try to gain readers rather than to silence opposition."187 He also wrote about the arts and sciences and how they were rooted in God. He published these thoughts in a book entitled The Nature of True Virtue. Jonathan perceived no conflict between religion and science, believing that correct interpretation would certainly show them to support one another.
It seems that his astute observations, plentiful thoughts, and copious writings carried over into his personal correspondence as well. A young woman in Jonathan's church named Deborah once asked him how she should conduct herself in a Christian way, and he wrote her a fourteen-page letter detailing his recommendations. In a gentle tone, he assured her that even though she might sin, the blood of Jesus could cover it. He also warned her to beware of pride and encouraged her to become a minister to others her own age. This letter was later published as a pamphlet entitled Advice to Young Converts.
Early Years as a Pastor
After graduating from Yale, Jonathan accepted his first call to be a pastor in
the growing city of New York. His church was small, but to Jonathan that meant he still had time to enjoy his walks in the woods surrounding the Hudson River and to study the Bible. He loved the congregation but could not draw adequate support from the church, which struggled financially. Jonathan was thus forced to move back home to Connecticut. His father convinced him to take a pastorate at Bolton, Connecticut, a job he didn't really want. After only a few months on the job, Edwards was relieved to receive an offer for a teaching position at Yale.
Some thought his reason for taking the job at Yale had to do with the daughter of the pastor there, Sarah Pierrepont. Jonathan was twenty and she just thirteen, but he was smitten with her, describing her in his journals as sweet and "beloved of that Great Being."188
Even that motivation was not enough to overcome his discouragement with the situation at Yale. He had looked forward to the teaching position, but with no leader appointed to the institution, he was called upon to administrate in addition to teaching. It didn't take long for Jonathan to figure out that this highly coveted job consisted of disciplining wild, wayward young men—a responsibility for which he did not feel gifted. It seems these young men who planned to become clergy members took advantage of their newfound freedom from their strict upbringing. They engaged in excessive drinking and frequent rowdiness, which caused Jonathan to become weary and depressed. Some think his depression could have been due to an illness he suffered during this time, while others believe it was the reverse. Regardless, the depression forced Jonathan to be bedridden for four months, and prolonged illnesses of one type or another plagued him nearly every year thereafter.
Jonathan must have been relieved when his grandfather, the Reverend Solomon Stoddard, invited him to become his assistant pastor at the Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts. This was the largest church in New England outside of Boston, and Stoddard, now in his eighties, needed help. Stoddard was a highly influential man, not only in his own town and church but in the whole area. Like other Puritan preachers, he taught that honoring those in authority, including the clergy, was crucial to survival and prosperity.
Disagreeing with Rev. Stoddard must have seemed like disagreeing with
God Himself. At one point, he even declared that God was punishing New England because its people were violating His commandments. Stoddard described the people in his congregation this way: "We live in a corrupt age and multitudes of men take a licentious liberty, in their drinking and apparel, and company, and recreations, and unsavory discourses."189
Stoddard believed that the purpose of evangelism was to ease God's anger, and that it was the only means of bringing blessing to His people. The colonists' failure to reach out to the Indians brought punishment, he said, adding that any positive move the colonists made toward the Indians was in the hope of appeasing God.
Jonathan's grandfather held strong opinions about most things. He despised the modern fashion of men wearing wigs—to him, wigs made men look "as if they were more disposed to court a maid, than to bear upon their hearts the weighty concernment of God's kingdom."190
There were some points on which Jonathan and his new superior disagreed, mostly having to do with church membership and Communion. Unlike his grandfather, Jonathan believed that being granted church membership, and thereby taking Communion, required proof of having been converted to the Congregational statements of faith. Solomon Stoddard taught that anyone who professed belief and whose life was free from scandal could become a member of the church and partake of the Lord's Supper. Jonathan made a decision to defer to Stoddard while under his authority.
Wedding Bells
With his new position as a pastor—and with the corresponding salary, adequate to purchase land and a home—Jonathan now formally pursued courtship with Sarah. They were married on July 20, 1727; Jonathan was twenty-four and Sarah was seventeen. Sarah wore a bright green, satin brocade dress—an exuberant expression of the Puritan celebration of love and marriage. This is an aspect of Puritan culture that is greatly misunderstood today. While many in the Victorian era viewed the human body negatively, most Puritans acknowledged the wonder of God's creation in ways some of us might even find uncomfortable today. Romantic love between a husband and wife had an honored place in New England society, and the formation of a new household was a cause for all to rejoice.191
Jonathan and his wife were considered a good team. Sarah grew up in a parsonage learning how to be a minister's wife. George Whitefield, famous revivalist from England, once visited their home and said, "A sweeter couple I have not seen."192 Single when he first met them, Whitefield began to pray that God would give him such a companion as Sarah Edwards. Samuel Hopkins, an apprentice preacher at the time, recalled, "No one of discernment could be conversant in the family without observing and admiring the perfect harmony and mutual love and esteem that subsisted between them."193
Jonathan himself said that Sarah's conversation "entertained him"; her spirit encouraged his spiritual life and her presence "brought him peace." He had great respect for what his wife thought, so each night he would read to her what he had written that day and listen to her response before they had devotions together.
Eleven children were born to Jonathan and Sarah: Sarah, Jerusha, Esther, Mary, Lucy, Timothy, Susannah, Eunice, Jonathan, Elizabeth, and Pierrepont. All eleven lived into adulthood, which was extremely unusual for that day and age. There was a long-standing bit of humor enjoyed by the people of Northampton regarding the first four births. Folklore of the day held that a child was born on the same day of the week that he or she had been conceived, and each of their first four children was born on Sunday.194
Every evening, Jonathan would spend an hour talking with his children before returning to his study. By all accounts, he was strict but loving. Everyone was to be home by nine o'clock at night. When his daughters were old enough to be courted, their suitors were not allowed to "intrude upon what he considered proper rest and sleep, or the religion and order of the family."195
Many have commented on the visible influence of many women, including his wife and daughters, on Jonathan. Besides his ten sisters, with whom he remained very close, Jonathan was also exposed to a strong bond of mutual admiration between his father and mother. The high regard in which he obviously held women no doubt started there. According to biographer George Marsden, Jonathan's father Timothy Edwards's letters to his wife, Esther, were filled with love for her and the children. Timothy also preached that a husband's love for his wife should be a "singular peculiar thing" that displayed