Sarah Edwards (missionary)

Rev. James Pierpont, 1711

Mary (Hooker) Pierpont, 1711[1]

Sarah Pierpont was born on January 9, 1710, in New Haven, Connecticut.[2] Her parents were James Pierpont and Mary (Hooker) Pierpont, granddaughter of first-generation Puritan Thomas Hooker,[3] who has been considered the founder of Connecticut.[4]^: xvi Her father was the minister of the First Church of New Haven from 1685 until his death in 1714.[3] He also helped establish what is now Yale University.[4]^: xvi Educated at home, she was better educated than most women of her day.[5]

By age six,[6] she entered her "heavenly Elysium" where she would “be enraptured by his [Christ's] light and love, have visions of Christ's excellence, and remain in an ecstatic state for up to six hours."[7]^: 33 This was the first of her "seasons of grace"[8] that were similar to the experiences of Saint Teresa of Ávila.[9]

Pierpont met Jonathan Edwards when she was 13[4]^: xiv and he was a divinity student at Yale College.[4]^: xvi She was well-educated, a good conversationalist, and a beautiful young lady. Edwards appreciated Pierpont's intelligence and valued her opinion during their discussions of religion.[10]^: 173 He was particularly interested in her personal relationship with God and the openness with which she expressed spiritual delight.[7]

They say there is a young lady in [New Haven] who is beloved of that almighty Being, who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on him - that she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from him always.

— Jonathan Edwards[4]^: xiv

Sarah's openness helped Jonathan broaden his perspective of religion from primarily an intellectual study to having a personal relationship with God, for which he had longed.[7] He wrote of his admiration for her spiritual awareness and acuity in Apostrophe to Sarah Pierpont.[7]^: 31

Engraving of Jonathan Edwards

Sarah Pierpont married Jonathan Edwards in July 1727, becoming Sarah Edwards.[4]^{: xvi–xvii}[lower-alpha 1] Her father, Rev. James Pierpont, officiated at the wedding.[15] The Edwards had eleven children. The first, Sarah, was born in August 1728;[4]^: xvii The eleventh was born in 1750.[3] Their children were Sarah, Jerusha, Esther, Mary, Lucy, Timothy, Susannah, Eunice, Jonathan, Elizabeth, and Pierpont.[11]^: 42 Rare for the time, all of her children survived infancy, as well as lived to adulthood.[4]^: xvii

The couple valued education for their sons and daughters. Jonathan spent an hour each day helping his children with their studies. He also led them in devotions each morning and night. He spent 13 hours of each day writing books on theology and preparing sermons. Sarah was the hands-on parent who raised the children and ran the household, providing an agreeable and pleasant life for her family.[10]^: 174 The children were raised to treat their parents with great reverence: stand when a parent entered the room, stop speaking when their parents spoke, and not to sit when their parents were standing.[15] She raised her children "as examples of Christian simplicity" and was a model parent within her husband's congregation.[4]^: xvii

She had an excellent way of governing her children. She knew how to make them obey her cheerfully. She seldom punished them, and spoke to them using gentle and pleasant words.

— A frequent visitor of the Edwards household [10]^: 174

Sarah was hospitable, bringing visiting preachers into her home for conversation and meals. Apprentices to Jonathan were treated like members of the family.[5] She had a close relationship with Jonathan, and they prayed together daily. George Whitefield, an evangelist, said of them, "A sweeter couple I have not yet seen."[12]

At times, though, she became overwhelmed and felt unworthy.[3][7]^: 33 This was partly due to the pressure that she put upon herself to be held in high esteem by her husband and the community. She also became distressed by the success of visiting ministers when they preached at the church while Rev. Edwards was out of town.[16] Inflation and the increasing family stretched the Edward's family budget. Jonathan asked for increases in his salary but was generally turned down.[17] By 1735, Sarah managed to cope during particularly stressful periods by turning herself over and making a personal covenant to God, which resulted in profound spiritual experiences.[3]

A Faithful Narrative of the Surprizing Work of God, by Jonathan Edwards, 1737

Although his books were popular in Britain and the American colonies, Jonathan had a hard time reaching the younger members of his congregation. In 1734, he preached sermons that captured the attention of the young adults, and one young woman was particularly affected by the feeling of acceptance and forgiveness for her sins.[10]^{: 175–176} She became a loving and devoted worshipper, which incentivized other young adults. People of all ages found redemption and were found by family members to be reborn. The revival of 300 members of his congregation was the beginning of the Great Awakening that spread throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut.[10]^{: 175–176} Jonathan wrote of the revival in A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in 1737.[10]^: 176 Jonathan was the leader of the movement, more specifically known as New Light, where personal religious experiences are based on one's heart and reason. It was revolutionary and controversial.[4]^: xv There were some ministers that condemned the work, while John Wesley, George Whitefield, and others were inspired by his message.[10]^: 176 Because New Light is based on one's emotions and reason, "Jonathan Edwards drew on the religious experience of women—his wife included—as models of God's engagement of the affections."[4]^: xv Further, she was his partner in his ministry.[4]^: xvi[lower-alpha 2] His stance was rare for the Puritanical times when women were not considered capable of having deep spiritual experiences because of their "inferior biology".[7]^: 31

Sarah, who had been a devoted Christian, was also changed at this time.[10]^: 176 Beginning in late January 1742, Sarah fell into a depression or what may have been a nervous breakdown when her husband travelled throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut on a preaching tour.[3] She became deeply distressed, and her personality changed dramatically. She became impatient and needful, and she experienced spells of jabbering, fainting, and hallucinating.[5] Her distress was sparked by a remark made by her husband before he left that she had been imprudent in some way and was made worse by her concern about finances and jealousy regarding the men who filled in as minister while her husband was away.[3] She went from feeling the piercing wrath of God for her sinfulness and then transformed in light and love.[3] She then began to have profound spiritual experiences, called religious ecstasy, over nine days.[3][16] She felt "swallowed up with light and love and a sweet solace, rest and joy of soul that was altogether unspeakable." For uninterrupted hours at a time, she felt

...infinite beauty and amiableness of Christ's person, and the heavenly sweetness of his transcendent love; so that the soul remained in a kind of heavenly Elysium, and did as it were swim in the rays of God's love, like a mote swimming in the beams of the sun, or beams of his light that come in at a window; and the heart was swallowed up in a kind of glow.

— Sarah Edwards' experiences documented anonymously in Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England [3]

Overcome by these experiences, she had physical reactions including the loss of the ability to speak or stand, fainting, leaping for joy, or other physical reactions. She became committed to fighting sinfulness and to feel the intense spiritual awareness.[3] She became stronger emotionally and spiritually with an innate awareness of assured salvation, rather than a continual need to prove that she was worthy.[5]

Jonathan believed that she was brought to the brink of deep sadness to build a stronger personal connection with God.[3] He said, "She was overwhelmed in the light and joy of the love of God,"[10]^: 176 and he considered her to be the "model of a truly Spirit-filled person".[3] He asked her to write down her experiences, which he edited for a work called Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England.[3][7]^: 32

In the July 2021 issue of the William and Mary Quarterly, historians Kenneth P. Minkema, Catherine A. Brekus, and Harry S. Stout published a newly discovered early version of Sarah Pierpont Edwards's "Experiences" that provided a far more graphic account of her "bodily agitations" than appeared in the accounts published by Jonathan Edwards and, later, by Sereno Dwight, suggesting that both Jonathan Edwards and Dwight were deeply concerned about the vividness of Sarah Edwards's original account, which they suppressed from the sanitized versions they offered to the public.[18]

In 1750, Jonathan preached that a "profession of godliness" was all that was needed to become a member of the church. This had a political impact, since church membership was the criteria for who could vote in the town.[5] He also changed church policy so that only those who had been saved could take the Lord's Supper. As a result, he was dismissed that year.[10]^: 178 The family moved to Stockbridge in the Berkshires the following year and worked as missionaries among the Housatonic Indians, or Stockbridge Indians,[10]^: 178 and he ministered to the small number of colonists. At that time, the French and Indian War was in progress, with frequent raids in the area.[17] Even so, Sarah developed good relationships and was hospitable to members of the community, including the local Native Americans. She cared for soldiers stationed in the barracks.[9]

During the following seven years, the family enjoyed their life near a river and at the foot of the Berkshire Hills, which was in the wilderness at that time. The children explored the area, and Sarah and Jonathan took long walks in the meadows.[10]^: 178 Besides her devotion to the community, she tended to her children. She directed their academic, music, and religion studies. She led them in prayers and encouraged outdoor sports.[4]^: xx Sarah and her daughters sold their needlework to augment the family's income.[11]^: 41

In 1757, Jonathan travelled to visit his daughter Esther Edwards Burr whose husband Rev. Aaron Burr Sr. died of smallpox during an epidemic in Newark, New Jersey. Burr was president of the College of New Jersey, now called Princeton University.[4]^: xx–xxi Jonathan accepted the position of president of the college to replace his son-in-law in February 1758.[4]^: xx–xxi[11]^: 41 He served as president[19] but died due to inoculation of the smallpox vaccine on March 22, 1758.[8]^: 121[11]^: 42 Esther died in April 1758, and Sarah went to Newark to care for the Burrs' orphaned children, Sally and Aaron Burr.[4]^: xx–xxi

In late September, Sarah left Princeton for Philadelphia where her orphaned grandchildren had been taken. They began their journey from Philadelphia to Northampton, where she intended to raise them. She became very ill with dysentery, and after five days[20][8]^: 121 she died at a friend's house in Philadelphia[5] on October 2, 1758, six months after her husband's death.[4]^: xx–xxi[21][11]^: 40[lower-alpha 3] Their youngest daughter, Elizabeth, died soon after her parents.[20] Her son, Timothy Edwards, raised Sally and Aaron Burr, who in 1800 would become the Vice President of the United States under Thomas Jefferson and murder Alexander Hamilton. Timothy also raised Pierpont Edwards, Sarah's youngest son who was born in 1750 and orphaned at his parents' deaths in 1758.[22]

Jonathan and Sarah are buried in the Presidents Lot of the Princeton Cemetery.[19] Two stone benches at Jonathan Edwards College at Yale University commemorate Jonathan and Sarah Edwards. Sarah Edwards' bench is carved with the words "Friend, Neighbor, Mother, Wife, and Christian" from her tombstone.[19] Based upon a study of their descendants in 1900, Sarah and Jonathan Edwards progeny are considered "one of the most accomplished families in American history"[10]^{: 179–180}[5] with one United States Vice President, one controller of the United States Treasury, three state governors, 30 judges, three United States senators, three mayors, 66 physicians, 100 overseas missionaries, numerous ministers, 65 college professors, and 13 college presidents.[5]

• Dodds, Elisabeth S. (1985). "My Dear Companion". Christianity Today (8 — Jonathan Edwards & the Great Awakening).
• Dodds, Elisabeth S. (2005). Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan & Sarah Edwards. Audubon Press & Christian Book Service. ISBN 978-0-9742365-0-6.
• Dwight, Sereno (1830). "Her Uncommon discoveries of the Divine Perfections and Glory; and of the Excellency of Christ by Sarah Pierrepont Edwards, 1710-1758". The Works of President Edwards: With a Memoir of His Life. Vol. 1. New York: G. & C. & H. Carvill. pp. 171–190. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via University of Pennsylvania Digital Library.
• Ellison, Julie (1984). "The Sociology of 'Holy Indifference': Sarah Edwards' Narrative". American Literature. Duke University Press. 56 (4): 479–495. doi:10.2307/2926151. JSTOR 2926151.
• Farley, Kyle P. (2000). "Edwards, Sarah Pierpont (09 January 1710–02 October 1758)". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0802069.
• Hollywood, Amy (Spring 2012). "Thin Wings". Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Harvard Divinity School.
• James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S.; College, Radcliffe (1971). Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. p. 565. ISBN 978-0-674-62734-5.
• Leverenz, David; Leverenz, Professor David (1980). "Sarah Pierpont Edwards". The Language of Puritan Feeling: An Exploration in Literature, Psychology, and Social History. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-0882-5.
• McCulley, Sue Lane; Dorothy Z. Baker, eds. (2005). The Silent and Soft Communion: The Spiritual Narratives of Sarah Pierpont Edwards and Sarah Prince Gill. University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-1-57233-437-3.
• Wallace, Ethel (January 1, 1950). "A Colonial Parson's Wife Sarah Pierrepont Edwards 1710–1758 "and a Very Eminent Christian"". Review & Expositor. Princeton, New Jersey. 47 (1): 41–56. doi:10.1177/003463735004700104. S2CID 147029963.

• Sarah Pierpont Edwards at Find a Grave