30 “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.” (Proverbs 31:30-31 ESV)
Jonathan Edwards began settling in to his new responsibilities in Northampton as the assistant to Pastor Solomon Stoddard. However, since his arrival another new event was shaping his life and ministry.. Edwards married Sarah Pierrepoint in New Haven on July 28, 1727. She was to bring, as a wife does, a sweetness and strength in his life for thirty years.
“Perhaps no event of Mr. Edwards’ life had a more close connection and his subsequent comfort and usefulness that this marriage,” Edwards biographer, Samuel Miller, explains,
Jonathan and Sarah met while he was a student at Yale. Sarah was thirteen years old when the young Edwards fell in love with her. When they married, Jonathan was twenty-three and Sarah was seventeen.
“She is possessed of wonderful sweetness, calmness, and universal benevolence of mind. She will sometimes go about from place to place singing sweetly, and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure, and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with he,” Edwards wrote.
Sarah was the daughter of Rev. James Pierrepoint. James had served as a pastor in New Haven from 1685 until his death in 1714. He was one of the founders of Yale College.
Sarah was also the grand-daughter of Thomas Hooker (1586-1647). Hooker was not only a Congregational minister but also the founder of the Connecticut Colony. Hooker “was known as an outstanding speaker and an advocate of universal Christian suffrage,” one historian explains.
Sarah was an excellent wife and mother of eleven children, ten of whom would live to adulthood. She would survive several of her children and her husband.
“Their marriage, which lasted over thirty years, was a happy one. Much of that was owing to Sarah, who managed the home–and her scholarly husband–efficiently. Sarah worked hard to rear godly children, dealing immediately with sin when it showed itself. The many people who visited the home were impressed by the peace which flourished in the home. There was none of the quarreling or coldness so common in other homes. Husband and wife supported and admired each other. They prayed daily together. Evangelist George Whitefield, after spending a few days in the calm, happy Edwards home, was so impressed that he determined to get married himself. “A sweeter couple I have not yet seen,” he enthuse,.” a biographer of Sarah Edwards explains,
It is evident that Sarah Edwards fit the profile of an excellent wife of Proverbs 31:30-31.
Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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