One of my heroes of the faith, Jonathan Edwards, died suddenly and unexpectedly after taking a smallpox vaccination in 1758.  Shortly before his death, he wrote to his daughter Lucy: “Dear Lucy, it seems to me to be the will of God that I must shortly leave you; therefore give my kindest love to my dear wife, and tell her, that the uncommon union, which … Continue reading Sarah and Jonathan Edwards: An “uncommon union”

Edwards usually rose at four or five in the morning in order to spend thirteen hours in his study.  In his only diary entry during his early years in Northampton he wrote, in January 1728, “I think Christ has recommended rising early in the morning, by his rising from the grave very early.”  The discipline was part of a constant, heroic effort to make his … Continue reading The Rigorous Discipline of Jonathan Edwards

“They say there is a young lady in New Haven who is beloved of that almighty Being, who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on him – that … Continue reading A Jonathan Edwards love poem to his future wife, Sarah