MRS. EDWARDS AND HOME TRAINING
Much of the capacity and talent, intensity and character of the more
than 1,400 of the Edwards family is due to Mrs. Edwards. None of the
brothers or sisters of Jonathan Edwards had families with any such
marvelous record as his, and to his wife belongs not a little of the
credit.
At the age of twenty-four Mr. Edwards was married to Sarah Pierrpont,
aged seventeen. She had an inheritance even more refined and vigorous
than that of Mr. Edwards. She was descended on her father's side from
the choicest of the Pierrpont family of England and New England. Her
father was one of the most famous of New Haven clergymen, one of the
principal founders, and a trustee and lecturer of Yale College. On her
mother's side she was a granddaughter of Rev. Thomas Hooker, of
Hartford, "the father of the Connecticut churches," and one of the grand
men in early American history.
Personally, she was so beautiful and so noble-minded that at the age
of thirteen she was known far and near for her Christian character and
exceptional ability. While she was still but thirteen and Mr. Edwards
twenty, he wrote in a purely disinterested way of the remarkable girl:
"She is of a 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."
Mr. Edwards was desirious of being married when he went to Northampton
as associate pastor with his grandfather, Dr. Stoddard. Miss Pierrpont
was only sixteen years of age, and she declined to be married until she
was seventeen. He insisted, but she persisted in her refusal.
Mrs. Edwards lived in her children. To her husband came honor and glory
in his lifetime, but to her came denial, toil and care. At eighteen,
this young, beautiful, brilliant wife became a mother, and until she was
forty, there was never a period of two years in which a child was not
born to them, and no one of the eleven children died until after the
last child was born. It was a home of little children. Her husband had
no care for the household and she wished him to have none. It was her
insistence that he should have thirteen hours of every twenty-four for
his study. Whatever may have been the contribution of Mr. Edwards to the
inheritance of the family, they owed the charming environment of the
home to their mother.
This was a delightful home, as many persons have testified who knew it.
I saw recently the diary of the famous George Whitefield, where he wrote
that he sometimes wondered if it was not the Lord's will that he should
marry, that he might thereby be more useful, and that if it was the
Lord's will that he should marry, he wished to be reconciled thereto,
but he did hope that the Lord would send him as a wife such a woman as
Mrs. Edwards, whom he considered the most beautiful and noble wife for
a Christian minister that he had ever known. If there be a more charming
tribute to woman than this, I have not seen it.
In view of the character of her children and their great success in
life, it may be interesting to know how she brought up the children, of
whom there were so many, and for which the schools did so little. This
is the testimony of one who knew of her home life well: "She had an
excellent way of governing her children; she knew how to make them
regard and obey her cheerfully. She seldom punished them, and in
speaking to them used gentle and pleasant words. When she had occasion
to reprove or rebuke, she would do it in a few words, without warmth and
noise, and with all calmness and gentleness of mind. In her directions
and reproofs of matters of importance, she would address herself to the
reason of her children, that they might not only know her inclination
and will, but at the same time be convinced of the reasonableness of it.
She had need to speak but once and she was obeyed; murmuring and
answering again were not known among them. In their manners they were
uncommonly respectful to their parents. When their parents came into
the room, they all rose instinctively from their seats and never resumed
them until their parents were seated; and when either parent was
speaking, no matter with whom they had been conversing, they were all
immediately silent.
"Quarreling and contention were in her family wholly unknown. She
carefully observed the first appearance of resentment and ill-will in
her young children towards any person whatever, and did not connive at
it, but was careful to show her displeasure, and suppress it to the
utmost; yet not by angry, wrathful words.
"Her system of discipline began at a very early age, and it was her rule
to resist the first, as well as every subsequent exhibition of temper or
disobedience in the child, however young, until its will was brought
into submission to the will of the parents."
It is needless to say that all this added materially to the good
inheritance of the children.