Sarah Edwards

Sarah Edwards (January 9, 1710 – October 2, 1758) was an American missionary and the wife of theologian Jonathan Edwards. Her husband was initially drawn to her spiritual openness, direct relationship with God, and periods of spiritual ecstasy. As a theological student at Yale, he had longed to have a personal relationship with God. His wife's experiences, similar to those of Saint Teresa of Ávila, profoundly affected his religious life and the formation of the New Light. She was a model of spirituality during the Great Awakening of the early 18th century. Her experiences of religious ecstasy were documented in Jonathan Edwards's work, Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England. She was a Puritan who took her faith very seriously. She raised her eleven children, largely by herself, as Jonathan Edwards focused on sermons and books. Among her noted descendants was her grandson, the U.S. vice president Aaron Burr.

Early life

Sarah Pierpont was born on January 9, 1710, in New Haven, Connecticut. Her parents were James Pierpont and Mary (Hooker) Pierpont, granddaughter of first-generation Puritan Thomas Hooker,

By age six, 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."

Pierpont met Jonathan Edwards when she was 13

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. as well as July 28, 1727. The fragment of her wedding dress is held in the Jonathan Edwards collection at the Beinecke Library of the Yale University Library. Her father, Rev. James Pierpont, officiated at the wedding. The Edwards had eleven children. The first, Sarah, was born in August 1728. 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. His stance was rare for the Puritanical times when women were not considered capable of having deep spiritual experiences because of their "inferior biology". 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

quote|text=...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.|author=Sarah Edwards' experiences documented anonymously in Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England 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.

Missionary 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. 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.

Death and legacy In 1757, Jonathan travelled to visit his daughter Esther Edwards Burr whose husband Rev. Aaron Burr Sr. of a fever in Newark, New Jersey. Burr was president of the College of New Jersey, now called Princeton University.

Jonathan and Sarah are buried in the Presidents Lot of the Princeton Cemetery. 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" 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.