Jonathan Edwards: A Life by Marsden George M

Author:Marsden, George M. [Marsden, George M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Itzy, Kickass.to
ISBN: 9780300129946
Amazon: B0017I1OR2
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2003-03-11T19:32:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

“Thy Will Be Done”

If Sarah Edwards, renowned as the model wife and caring hostess, ever felt entirely overwhelmed, the arrival of David Brainerd on Thursday May 28, 1747, may have been one of those times. Just three weeks earlier she had given birth to an eighth daughter, Elizabeth. In addition were two boys, Timothy, nearly nine, and Jonathan Jr., who had just turned two. Remarkably, all ten children had thus far survived. By contrast, in John Stod-dard’s household, with which the family must have had constant interchange, only five of the ten children survived to adulthood.1

When Brainerd arrived, gaunt with tuberculosis, the Edwardses already had another gravely ill New Light on their hands. Eleazar Wheelock was staying with them, and Edwards had written Bellamy that the young evangelist might never preach again.2 Wheelock did recover (and lived to found both a charity school for Indians and Dartmouth College). The Edwardses were surrounded by illness and other troubles. Northampton had become terribly unhealthy during the war years. The cool attitude of much of the town toward its pastor did not make matters any easier for the family. The war itself added to the tensions. The town was still fortified, although soldiers probably were no longer billeted in the Edwardses’ home. Colonel Stoddard was still hoping to mount an invasion of Canada, but most of the time he was occupied with the frustrating task of overseeing the defense of a sometimes indefensible frontier.

Despite these burdens, the Edwards family was still flourishing at near its peak, and we can try to get some sense of what the household was like. The home was a substantial two-story, eighteenth-century frame structure heated by a large central fireplace and chimney, to which most of the separate rooms would be adjacent. The hearth was the center of home life. The interior of the home probably was not plastered, and the furnishings were modest. Included were the standard carding machines and spinning wheels for the typical home industries of the day. The Edwardses had a garden plot and also the rights to some nearby acreage that they tilled or used for grazing sheep, pigs, and cattle. An African woman slave, who probably had her own children, helped with the household duties.3

The first impression a visitor would have upon arriving at the Edwards home was that there were a lot of children. The second impression would be that they were very well disciplined. Jonathan aided Sarah in disciplining the children from an early age. “When they first discovered any considerable degree of will and stubbornness,” wrote Samuel Hopkins, “he would attend to them till he had thoroughly subdued them and brought them to submit.” Edwards did this “with the greatest calmness, and commonly without striking a blow.” Soon he “effectually established his parental authority, and produced a cheerful obedience ever after.”

Care for his children’s souls was, of course, his preeminent concern. In morning devotions he quizzed them on Scripture with questions appropriate to their ages. On Saturday evening,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.