This is a happy first for me. I have been overwhelmingly blessed by biographies for about ten years. I believe it began with The Legacy of Sovereign Joy, a book by John Piper that contains short chapters on Augustine, Luther, and Calvin. In so many ways I know, let alone however many ways I don’t know, God has grown me over the last decade, and much of that growth has come by a multitude of personal trainers who’ve been dead for centuries.

My own study started with five Reformers in the fall of 2004. My next subject, which I pursued sometime in the late summer of 2005, was Jonathan Edwards. I cannot calculate a dollar amount if I were to try to put a value on that exercise.

Edwards’ book The End for Which God Created the World solidified my confidence in the sovereignty of God applied to God’s passion to be glorified. Every one of His attributes is infinitely excellent and deserves eternal glory. That book, along with The Religious Affections, forever changed my heart. My Christian life as a worshipper, my life as a husband and father, my understanding of pastoral work, were all exposed as almost affectionless. Edwards finally mapped the place for love and delight and joy that, up to that point, I struggled to find. Oh how grateful to God I am for the wounding and healing the Spirit did through Edwards.

As a pastor, theologian, and author, Edwards is a giant of Himalayan height. Most who consider his life are impressed and I was also envious to the point of bitterness. I was envious of his reasoning, his illustrations, his production, and even the amount of time he spent in his study (sometimes 13 hours in a day). He was married. He and Sarah had 11 children. She bore the load of parenting and practical administration of the house, all of which provided space for JE to work.

I think I said positive things about Sarah back then. Yet I’m glad that I didn’t do a separate biographical sketch of her life. I was asked about it. In fact, even though I’m convinced that ladies will grow best when the guys around them grow first, I appreciate that so many ladies (students and staff) have patiently endured until now for a godly woman to be the subject of study. This is a first for me.

But what makes it such a happy first for me, as I mentioned at the beginning, is not that the universe bends back toward balance because we’re addressing a female, finally, though I think that’s great. It is such a happy first for me because Sarah is the first person I’ve prepared a biography for who never wrote a book. She never preached a sermon or pastored a church. She wasn’t a foreign missionary. She was a woman, a wife, a mother. She loved God and she talked theology and worshipped with the church and served her family and flock, but she did it like most non-professionals. She gave her life as a clay pot, worn out by making breakfast (without electricity and refrigeration and indoor plumbing) every morning.

I will say it again at the end, but I appreciate Sarah not because she enabled Jonathan to be a dualist (which it seems like she did), but I appreciate Sarah because she herself wasn’t a dualist. She loved God through bacon and babies and chocolate, not through writing Bible commentaries. A lot of people can learn from her, ladies included. I would have certainly gotten it wrong eight years ago. Maybe I’ll get it less wrong now.

Sarah’s Life and Labors

Sarah Pierpont was born in New Haven, CT, one of the 13 colonies, in January of 1710, into a pastor’s home. New Haven was also the home of Yale where JE attended, graduated, and returned to tutor in 1723. JE was 20 and Sarah was 13 (though they had met a few years earlier). It’s not clear that Sarah was excited about Jonathan. She was a social butterfly with wings of politeness and grace. He once wrote in his journal: “Have lately erred in not allowing time enough for conversation.” He was a real party. He was gangly and socially awkward. But he was also twitterpated, writing and doodling about Sarah in the front of one of his Greek grammar books. As time passed they grew closer and were married in 1727.

Almost immediately after the wedding the couple left for North Hampton where JE had been hired as an assistant to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. It’s virtually unimaginable for us, but, according to Marriage to a Difficult Man by Elizabeth Dodds,

Custom commanded that a bride on her first Sunday in church wear her wedding dress and turn slowly so that everyone could have a good look at it.

In this 17 year old’s case, as the new wife of the new pastor,

She took her place in the seat that was to symbolize her role—a high bench facing the congregation where everyone could notice the list flicker of expression.

Within two years, Solomon died and Jonathan took over as the sole pastor for the next 23 years. We know what we know about Sarah’s part in their home life from a few of her own letters, from some writing by her husband, and by many guests who she hosted. She was always being watched and, it seems, always working. She embodies indefatigability in ways many men should aspire to.

She basically ran the Edwards’ house. He was busy studying and, as time went on, he was often gone, traveling to speak in other churches or colleges. JE thought highly of her but he left the family work to her. He apparently did 30 minutes of physical work a day, mending fence or chopping wood, for exercise. He spent an hour many evenings with the family before their going to bed. He led morning and bedtime prayers. He was accessible in his study, but that’s still where he was most of the time. He regularly missed dinner if he though he was in the study zone. It also seems that he ate little and quickly so that even with a table full of kids and guests, he would leave when he was finished and have someone get him when everyone else was done so that he could give the end-of-meal grace.

She was busy bearing eight girls and three boys, then educating them and training them to work. There were no supermarkets. Everything they ate—save cheese and chocolates which were purchased in Boston—they grew or raised or prepared from scratch. Some of their clothes were purchased in the city, but most apparel was likewise made at home. One (legendary) account has JE asking if it wasn’t time to bring in the hay and Sarah replied that it had been in for two weeks already.

The Edwards almost always had company. One reason for this was because, in a day before Holiday Inn, the pastor’s house was assumed to be a safe place to lodge. Another reason for guests was because in a day before seminaries, living with a pastor was a good way to be trained for ministry. As Edwards became more well known, he had more curious travelers and many wanna-be interns. Sarah took care of their meals as well. One of their most famous guests was George Whitefield. GW was so impressed by Sarah that he decided to get a wife for himself. Whitefield journaled:

“Felt great satisfaction in being at the house of Mr. Edwards. A sweeter couple I have not yet seen. Their children were not dressed in silks and satins, but plain, as become the children of those who, in all things, ought to be examples of Christian simplicity. Mrs. Edwards is adorned with a meek and quiet spirit; she talked solidly of the things of God, and seemed to be such a helpmeet of her husband, that she caused me to renew those prayers, which, for some months, I have put to God, that He would be pleased to send me a daughter of Abraham to be my wife.”

Another guest was David Brainerd. The entire family took a liking to Brianerd, but Brainerd brought tuberculosis with him. Not only did he die in the Edwards’ home, with a couple little kids around, but Jerusha Edwards caught tuberculosis and died shortly after Brainerd. It’s hard to imagine how Sarah must have felt.

It’s also hard to know exactly how she handled her husband’s difficulties, inside and out. Not only was he quirky, he was a lightening rod for criticism and controversy. He was applauded and attacked, sought after and shunned. The Great Awakenings produced much passion but little harmony, more heat than light. What was true throughout New England was also true in their own town and church in North Hampton. He tried to wake up his own flock and they were often irritated.

Eventually Edwards was dismissed by his congregation after 23 years of service. Even though he was doctrinally right, he didn’t seem to do much on a personal level to love or humble himself among the people. Dodds wrote:

He tried to be less awesome, but it was hard.

After more two decades, the family needed to move. While trying to decide where to go, and while the church searched for a new pastor, week by week they often asked JE to fill the pulpit. This went on for some 15 months. Sarah must have had mixed emotions.

They moved to Stockbridge, a mission city with some white settlers among Indians. They started over, but JE didn’t start doing more with the family, he started writing more. The French and Indian War went through Stockbridge on a couple occasions and, even though Edwards sent some of the younger children to stay with older, married siblings, JE and Sarah stayed on.

In 1758 a new college started in Princeton, NJ. The president of Princeton College was Esther Edwards’ husband, Aaron Burr Sr. (to be distinguished from his son by the same name who was Thomas Jefferson’s right hand man in the White House, who also shot the man on the $20 bill). He died and the college board recruited JE to replace him. JE accepted and moved early in order to provide encouragement for Esther and her three children while Sarah stayed home in Stockbridge to get things ready to move in the spring.

But Edwards got an inoculation for small pox and died. Esther died two weeks later. Sarah, now 49, learned by letter than her husband of 31 years and one of her daughters were dead. She went to Princeton to get her grandkids but on the return trip she got sick and died. She spent herself in sacrifice for others to the end.

Lessons We Can Learn from Sarah

I would like to keep thinking about the Edwards’ home and Sarah’s part specifically. I’ve learned that it is hard to do biographical application with balance. But here are three lessons I think valuable for all of us, including pastors, wives of pastors, ladies, and men.

1. Sarah’s work wasn’t more significant because she was married to someone significant, but it was harder (than ours) and more watched.

She was faithful in her work. It is amazing how much work she did and yet the kind of work she did was not amazing. In other words, she did normal things, not radical things, some of which were harder to do in her day than in ours. It was also work made difficult by having a unique character for a husband, one who often raised irritation or resentment in those Sarah had to deal with. The church in North Hampton was 200 families large, meaning that there were lots of watching eyes.

Sarah still made her grocery list one column at a time. She organized the hay storage strategy one bail at a time. She didn’t ever seem to get into all the real estate ventures and international commerce that the Proverbs 31 woman did, but it could still be said of her, “she looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness” (Proverbs 31:28, ESV). She worked hard at what was right in front of her with a lot of people watching.

Your work, whatever it may be, done out of love for Christ and neighbor will bear fruit, even if you’re not married to a president and even if no one ever teaches a biography about you 300+ years from now.

2. Sarah’s work couldn’t have foreseen what fruit would grow in future generations.

One way to measure fruit would be to consider the heritage of Edwards’ family. By the year 1900, 150 years and 1400 or so descendants later, the Edwards family tree included 13 college presidents, 65 professors, 100 lawyers, 30 judges, 66 doctors, 3 senators, 3 mayors of large cities, 3 state governors, one vice president, 100 overseas missionaries, and too many pastors to count. One biographer wrote,

Has any other mother contributed more vitally to the leadership of a nation? (George Marsden)

When she died, however, her husband had published few successful, well-received books. They had served for the last seven years of their lives on a small, frontier mission. Her kids were happy, but two of the eleven died before her.

Yet here we are talking about her. She made a difference by her hospitality to guests. They noticed that she cared for them gladly. Her husband trusted her. Her children loved her. She worked faithfully.

Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.
(Proverbs 31:28–31, ESV)

We should keep working and stop expecting to see our fruit now.

3. Sarah’s work (may have) enabled JE to be a dualist in his work, but she wasn’t in hers.

I don’t know that he ever acted superior to Sarah (or others) because he was thinking/writing/preaching and doing spiritual work compared to them. But I cannot now, at this point in my life bring myself to appreciate his work the same way.

Sarah could have used his help more. She had some difficult times and it is not clear all the ways that JE died to bring her, or their kids, life, day by day. Again, I thank God for many things I see more clearly about how the will works and the power of affections in glorifying God and the ultimate end of God being delighted in by men who know Him. But I also thank God for many things I see more clearly about Christ’s Lordship over books and boys, sermons and suppers, prayers and fire wood. Sarah is a great example that that work matters.

So ladies, you are not second class Christians when you obey Titus 2. Men, you don’t need to be Jonathan Edwards II, or pastors, in order to be godly, spiritual believers who make a difference. Trust God in the nitty-gritty, in the early mornings and hot afternoons, eating your chocolate with calloused fingers.