Jonathan Edwards

He married Sarah Pierpont, daughter of the head founder of Yale College in 1727. She was a devout, practical and cheerful woman who proved to be an ideal wife and mother. The couple was blessed with 11 children.

He was known to be a charitable man who always helped those in need.

He was a strong supporter of smallpox inoculations and decided to get himself vaccinated in order to set a precedent. However he was already in ill health and could not bear the side-effects of the vaccine and died in 1758.

Jonathan Edwards was born on October 5, 1703 and was one of the 11 children of Timothy Edwards and Esther Stoddard. His father was a minister of church at Connecticut who also tutored boys for college.

His parents ensured that their children received good education and his father personally coached him for college.

He enrolled at the Yale College in 1716 when he was just 13 years old. There he became acquainted with the works of the great philosopher John Locke, especially his ‘Essay Concerning Human Understanding’ which greatly influenced the young boy.

He also had a deep interest in science and admired scientists like Isaac Newton and his contemporaries. He loved nature and used to pray in the woods surrounded by natural beauty.

He graduated as valedictorian of his class in 1720.

In 1722 he was appointed a clergyman in a small Presbyterian Church in New York City. He worked in this position for eight months and quit in 1723.

He became a tutor at Yale where he followed an orthodox method of teaching. He was very devoted towards his Alma Mater.

A prolific writer, he recorded the development of his religious beliefs and philosophies in his diary which he maintained from 1720 to 1726.

He was ordained a minister of the church at Northampton where he served as an assistant to his maternal grandfather Solomon Stoddard. As a scholar-pastor, he devoted 13 hours a day to study.

His grandfather died in 1729 leaving him in charge of all the ministerial work at the church. Edwards became the pastor of the church at the age of 26. The church was one of the richest and most influential ones in the colony at that time.

His classic sermon ‘Sinners in the hands of an Angry God’ published in 1741 is one of his major works. He gave a vivid description of hell in this sermon which is regarded as one of the foremost sermons to have influenced the Great Awakening.

‘A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections’ (1746) gave an account of how true conversion to Christianity occurs. This book continues to be widely read even today.

His biography of American missionary David Brainerd, titled ‘The Life of David Brainerd’ published in 1749 is his most frequently reprinted book. The book contains material from Brainerd’s diary and greatly influenced missionary movements of the 18th and 19th centuries.