APPENDIX: A CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE, MINISTRY, AND WRITTINGS OF JONATHAN EDWARDS1
THE CITATIONS THAT READ “Yale” followed by the volume and page number refer to the Yale University Press edition of Edwards’ works.2 In addition to the major events in Edwards’ life, I have placed in brackets other important developments that were indirectly related to him as well as significant dates in secular history that provide a broader framework for Edwards’ activity.
[1701 Yale College established in New Haven, Connecticut]
1703 Born October 5, East Windsor, Connecticut
Edwards had ten sisters (no brothers), all of whom were at least six feet tall! His paternal grandmother was a chronic adulteress who bore another man’s child. She was psychotic, often given to fits of perversity, rage, and threats of violence (her sister murdered her own child, and her brother killed another sister with an ax). She eventually deserted her family and was finally divorced by Jonathan’s grandfather.
Edwards receives extensive theological training from his father during his early years and can read Latin by the age of six, Greek and Hebrew by twelve.
[1706 Benjamin Franklin born]
1710 January 9, his future wife, Sarah Pierpont, is born, New Haven, Connecticut
1712 Experiences spiritual awakening at East Windsor; builds prayer booth in the swamp (though Edwards did not consider himself to have been truly converted at this time)
1716 –20 Undergraduate studies
The average age for beginning college was sixteen. He begins his studies in September at Connecticut Collegiate School at Wethers-field. In October he moves to New Haven to study in the newly built Yale College but soon returns to Wethersfield because of disagreement with tutor Samuel Johnson. Upon Johnson’s removal, Edwards returns to New Haven in June. During his senior year (winter of 1719–1720), he falls deathly ill with pleurisy. In September he delivers the valedictory address in Latin.
1719 –20 Writes “Of Insects”
1720 –21 Preaches first formal sermon, “Christian Happiness”
1720 –22 M.A. student at Yale
1721 Intense religious experiences (conversion?) begin (spring [Apr.?])
Edwards’ journey into an all-absorbing love affair with the sweetness of God’s presence begins with his meditation on one verse of Scripture:
“The first instance that I remember of that sort of inward, sweet delight in God and divine things, that I have lived much in since, was on reading those words, 1 Tim. 1:17, ‘Now unto the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever, Amen.’ As I read the words, there came into my soul, and was as it were diffused thro’ it, a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense, quite different from any thing I ever experienced before. Never any words of Scripture seemed to me as these words did. I thought with myself, how excellent a being that was; and how happy I should be, if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up to God in Heaven, and be as it were swallowed up in Him. I kept saying, and as it were singing over these words of Scripture to myself; and went to pray to God that I might enjoy him; and prayed in a manner quite different from what I used to do, with a new sort of affection” (Personal Narrative).
1721 Writes “Of the Rainbow,” “Of Light Rays”; begins work on “Natural Philosophy,” “Of Atoms,” “Of Being,” “Prejudices of the Imagination”
1722(Aug.) Pastors a Presbyterian church in New York City
–1723 (Apr.)
In late fall of 1722 he begins to record his Resolutions. The seventieth, and last resolution, is written on August 17, 1723. In December, he starts a spiritual diary in which he writes intermittently from 1722 to 1725, with four additional entries in 1734–1735. During this period he also begins the “Catalogue” of books he had read or wished to read. (By the time Edwards arrives in New York, he has been embroiled for nearly eighteen months in an argument with his father and mother concerning the nature of conversion [Yale 10:261–278]. Writes in his diary on August 12, 1723: “The chief thing, that now makes me in any measure to question my good estate, is my not having experienced conversion in those particular steps wherein the people of New England, and anciently the dissenters of Old England, used to experience it, wherefore, now resolved, never to leave searching till I have satisfyingly found out the very bottom and foundation, the real reason, why they used to be converted in those steps.”)
1722(Sept.) Timothy Cutler, rector of Yale, together with one of the two tutors and five local ministers, declare they have converted to Anglicanism (this comes to be known as “The Great Apostasy”). Anglicanism is feared because of its accommodation to “Arminian impulses” (Yale, 14:50), its openness to Latitudinarianism, and the potential for corruption and authoritarianism in its ecclesiological practices
1722(Oct.) Writes his first entry in what was to become known as “The Miscellanies.” These entries, of which there are over 1,400, vary in length from a short paragraph to several pages:
“My method of study, from my first beginning the work of ministry, has been very much by writing; applying myself in this way, to improve every important hint; pursuing the clue to my utmost, when anything in reading, meditation or conversation, has been suggested to my mind, that seemed to promise light in any weighty point. Thus penning what appeared to me my best thoughts, on innumerable subjects for my own benefit. The longer I prosecuted my studies in this method, the more habitual it became, and the more pleasant and profitable I found it”
(Letter to the Trustees of the College of New Jersey, Oct. 19, 1757).
1723 Writes “Miscellanies” aa–93
1723(Apr.) New York City pastorate ends
1723(May) Returns home to East Windsor
Writes poem in praise of Sarah Pierpont (she was only thirteen at the time)
1723(Sept.) Receives his M.A. from Yale; his thesis, written in Latin, is on the doctrine of imputation (of Adam’s sin to his posterity and of Christ’s righteousness to the believer)
1723(Sept.) Begins a new notebook titled The Mind
1723(Oct.) Begins Notes on the Apocalypse
1723 Writes “Spider Letter”
(Oct. 23)
1723(Nov.) Writes “Apostrophe to Sarah Pierpont”
1723 (Nov.) Pastors church at Bolton, Connecticut
–1724 (May)
1724 Writes “Miscellanies” 94–146
1724 (Jan.) Begins Notes on Scripture
1724–26 Tutors at Yale (experiences serious illness in the fall of 1725 that (elected on lasts three months: “In this sickness God was pleased to visit me May 21) again with the sweet influences of his Spirit. My mind was greatly engaged there, on divine and pleasant contemplations, and longings of soul” [Personal Narrative])
In September of 1724 he has an unidentified spiritual crisis that casts him into a depression that lasts for three years. The following entry in his diary is dated September 26, 1726:
“’Tis just about three years, that I have been for the most part in a low, sunk estate and condition, miserably senseless to what I used to be, about spiritual things. ’Twas three years ago, the week before commencement; just about the same time this year, I began to be somewhat as I used to be” (Yale, 16:788).
1725 Writes “Miscellanies” 152–195
1726 Writes “Miscellanies” 196–237, 261–262, 267–274, 313–314
1726 Preaches intermittently at Glastonbury, Connecticut (Apr.–July)
1726 On August 29 is asked to assist his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, in Northampton; resigns tutorship in September; accepts the call to Northampton in November
1727 Writes “Miscellanies” 238–255, 279–305, 315–317
1727 Is ordained on February 15, 1727
1727 Marries Sarah Pierpont (July 28)
Experiences a dramatic recovery from the three-year depression (fall of 1727).
1727 Massive earthquake shakes New England; a brief spiritual awaken(Oct. 29) ing results. Edwards preaches “Impending Judgments Averted Only by Reformation” on December 21, a colony-wide day of fasting
1728 Begins the notebook Shadows of Divine Things, later renamed (Sept. or Images of Divine Things. He continues to add new entries until Oct.) 1756
1728 First child, Sarah, is born (Aug. 25)
1728 Writes “Miscellanies” 256–260, 265–266, 275–278, 306–310, 318–384
1729 Writes “Miscellanies” 385–454
1729 Stoddard dies; Edwards becomes pastor of Northampton church (Feb. 11)
The church in 1735 had approximately 620 members. It was customary for Edwards to spend thirteen hours a day in his study.
However, contrary to widespread opinion, he was anything but an academic recluse. He was always available both to his family and his congregation and generally received them into his study for counseling and prayer.
1729 Edwards experiences “acute emotional and physical fatigue, appar-(spring) ently accompanied by a loss of voice, that manifested all the signs of an anxiety disorder that modern psychologists often equate with creativity” (Yale, 14:13). He takes a seventeen-day trip to New Haven (late Apr. to early May), but suffers another collapse in early June that makes it impossible for him to preach for a month
[1729 (Dec.) Edwards’ sister Jerusha dies of a “malignant fever”]
1730 Writes “Miscellanies” 455–487
1730 (Jan.) Begins “Discourse on the Trinity”
1730 Second child, Jerusha, is born (Apr. 26)
1730 (Oct.) Makes first entries in his “Blank Bible”
[1731 Edwards may have met Bishop George Berkeley (1685–1753) on a trip to Newport]
1731 (Jan.) Writes “Miscellanies” beginning at 488
1731 Purchases “Negro girl named Venus” in Newport, Rhode Island (May 7)
1731 Preaches “God Glorified in Man’s Dependence” at the public lecture (July 8) in Boston (based on 1 Corinthians 1:29–31; becomes the first of his sermons to be published)
1732 Third child, Esther, is born (Feb. 13)
1733 (Jan.) Writes “Miscellanies” 612
1733 (Dec.) Writes “Miscellanies” beginning at 625
1734 Fourth child, Mary, is born (Apr. 7)
1734 Preaches “A Divine and Supernatural Light, Immediately Imparted (Aug.) to the Soul by the Spirit of God, Shown to be both a Scriptural, and Rational Doctrine”
1734 Preaches series on “Justification by Faith Alone” (Ninety-five pages (Nov.) in the Yale edition!); writes “Miscellanies” 668
1734 –35 First wave of revival in Northampton and Connecticut Valley occurs
1735 Joseph Hawley, Edwards’ uncle, commits suicide by cutting his throat (June 1)
1734 –35 The case of Robert Breck occurs
First Church, Springfield, decides to call Robert Breck, an Arminian, as its pastor. He is installed and ordained in January 1736 despite the opposition of a majority of the Hampshire County ministers, one of whom is Edwards.
1735 Preaches “The Most High, a Prayer-Hearing God”
1736 (Aug.) Writes “Miscellanies” 698
[1736 Edwards’ sister Lucy dies of “throat distemper”] (Aug. 21)
1736 Fifth child, Lucy, is born (Aug. 31)
1736 Joseph Bellamy comes to study with Edwards (fall–winter)
1737 A Faithful Narrative of Surprising Conversions published (between 1737 and 1739 it went through three editions and twenty printings)
On March 13 the gallery in Edwards’ church splits in the middle and crashes down on the parishioners below. No one dies. A new meetinghouse is dedicated on December 25.
[1738 John Wesley begins Methodist revivals in England]
1738 Preaches “The Excellency of Christ”
1738 Preaches “Charity and Its Fruits” (published in 1851) (Apr.–Oct.)
1738 Sixth child and first son, Timothy, is born (July 25)
1738 (Oct.) Writes “Miscellanies” 756
1739 (Feb.) Writes “Miscellanies” 788
1739 Preaches series of thirty sermons on the “History of the Work of (Mar.–Aug.) Redemption,” based on Isaiah 51:8 (published in 1774)
1739 (Aug.) Writes “Miscellanies” 807
1739 Writes “Miscellanies” 832 (winter)
1740 (Jan.) Writes “Miscellanies” 841
1740 Seventh child, Susannah, is born (June 20)
1740 (Aug.) Writes “Miscellanies” 847
1740 George Whitefield’s preaching tour of New England sparks First Great Awakening (1740–1742)
Whitefield arrives in Northampton on October 17 and preaches Sunday morning and again in Edwards’ home that evening, as well as three more times over the next two days. Whitefield reported that Edwards “wept during the whole time of the exercise.” According to Edwards, “the congregation was extraordinarily melted by every sermon; almost the whole assembly being in tears for a great part of sermon time” (Yale, 4:545).
1740 (Nov.) Preaches “They Sing a New Song”; writes “Miscellanies” 859–860
1740 (Dec.) Writes Personal Narrative
1741 (May) Writes “Miscellanies” 862
1741 Preaches “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (July 8)
1741 Writes “Miscellanies” 874; Great Awakening peaks in Northampton (Aug.–Sept.)
1741 Preaches “Distinguishing Marks of the Work of the Spirit of God” (Sept. 10) as the Yale commencement speech
1741 (Dec.) Samuel Hopkins arrives at Edwards’ home (Hopkins would later become the only eyewitness to write a biography of Edwards). Of Edwards, he said:
“Though he was of tender constitution, yet few students are capable of a closer or longer application, than he was. He commonly spent thirteen hours, every day, in his study. His usual recreation in summer, was riding on horseback and walking. He would commonly, unless prevented by company, ride two or three miles after dinner to some lonely grove, where he would dismount and walk a while. At such times he generally carried his pen and ink with him, to note any thought that might be suggested, and which promised some light on any important subject. In the winter, he was wont, almost daily, to take an axe, and chop wood, moderately, for the space of half an hour or more.”
1741 (Dec.) Writes “Miscellanies” 903
[1742 Revival breaks out in Scotland]
1742 Sarah Edwards has ecstatic experiences (Jan. 19–Feb. 4):
“His account of his wife’s spiritual experience is one of the most striking passages in all he ever wrote, and Sarah’s own narrative . . . is an amazing testimony to how much of heaven can be enjoyed upon earth.”3
1742 Northampton covenant (a city-wide renewal) (Mar. 16)
1742 (June) Writes “Miscellanies” 991
1742 (fall– Writes Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion winter) in New England
1742 Begins sermon series (concluded in 1743) that will eventually be published as Religious Affections
1743 Eighth child, Eunice, is born (May 9)
1743 Charles Chauncy publishes his response to Edwards, titled Season(Sept.) able Thoughts on the State of Religion in New England
Chauncy’s overall assessment of the revival: “For myself, I am among those who are clearly in the Opinion, that there never was such a Spirit of Superstition and Enthusiasm reigning in the Land before. . . . A good Number, I hope, have settled into a truly Christian temper: Tho’ I must add, at the same time, that I am far from thinking, that the Appearance, in general, is any other than the effect of enthusiastick Heat. The goodness that has been so much talked of, ’tis plain to me, is nothing more, in general, than a Commotion in the Passions.”
1744 Writes “Miscellanies” 1067–1069
1744 “Young Folks’ Bible” (or, the “Bad Books”) case begins in March (Mar.)
1744 –49 Writes Types of the Messiah (“Miscellany” 1069)
1745 Ninth child and second son, Jonathan, is born (May 26)
1746 Publishes A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections
[1746 College of New Jersey (later named Princeton University) is established]
1747 Tenth child, Elizabeth, is born (May 6)
1747 David Brainerd visits (May 28) and later dies (Oct. 9) (May–June)
1747 (Oct.) An Humble Attempt to promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom on Earth published
1748 Daughter Jerusha dies (Feb. 14)
[1748 Edwards’ uncle, John Stoddard—his greatest benefactor—dies] (June 19)
1748 Writes “Miscellanies” 1101 (summer)
1749 An Account of the Life of the Late Reverend David Brainerd published
1749 (Aug.) Writes An Humble Inquiry into the Rules of the Word of God, Concerning the Qualifications Requisite to a Complete Standing and Full Communion in the Visible Christian Church
1750 Eleventh child and third son, Pierpont, is born (Apr. 8)
1750 Dismissed from Northampton pastorate. Among the reasons most (June 22) often cited include: his requests for an increase in salary (to provide for eleven children); his response to the practice of “bundling,” in which young people were allowed to spend the night in bed together (though sexual intercourse was forbidden); in another matter, his public reading of a list of people accused of wrongdoing along with those who had merely been witnesses and failing to distinguish between the two; and, perhaps most important, his opposition to Stoddard’s doctrine of the Lord’s Supper as a “converting ordinance”
1750 Preaches his farewell sermon at Northampton on 2 Corinthians 1:14 (July 2)
Four days after preaching his farewell sermon he writes to John Erskine: “I am fitted for no other business but study, I should make a poor hand at getting a living by any secular employment. We are in the hands of God, and I bless him, I am not anxious concerning his disposal of us.” Edwards actually continues to fill the Northampton pulpit on several occasions from July through November, after his dismissal.
1751 (June) Settles in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, as pastor and missionary to Indians
1751 (Mar.) Writes “Miscellanies” 1180
1751 Family moves to Stockbridge (Oct. 18)
[1752 Benjamin Franklin conducts electrical experiment with a kite]
1752 Third daughter, Esther, marries Aaron Burr, president of the College (June 29) of New Jersey. Their son, Aaron Burr, Jr., will become vice president of the United States
1752 Publishes Misrepresentations Corrected and Truth Vindicated (a (summer) reply to Solomon Williams on the qualifications necessary for communion)
1752 (Aug.) Writes “Miscellanies” 1200
1752 Preaches “True Grace, Distinguished from the Experience of Devils” (Sept. 28)
1753 Writes his last will and testament (Mar. 14)
1753 (Apr.) Completes the first draft of Freedom of the Will
1753 Writes “Miscellanies” beginning with 1227 (winter)
1754 Falls into a serious illness that lasts seven months (summer)
1754 (Dec.) Publishes A Careful and Strict Enquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions of Freedom of the Will
1755 Reads recently completed Dissertation on the End for Which God (Feb. 11–13) Created the World to Bellamy and Hopkins; finishes The Nature of True Virtue shortly thereafter (published in 1765)
1755 Timothy Edwards, Jonathan’s father, finally ends his ministry in East Windsor at the age of eighty-seven
1756 Writes “Miscellanies” beginning with 1281
1757 Writes “Miscellanies” beginning with 1358
1757 (Feb.) Revival breaks out at the College of New Jersey (Princeton); renews Edwards’ hopes for genuine outpouring of the Spirit
1757 (May) Writes final draft of The Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Defended
[1757 Aaron Burr, Edwards’ son-in-law and president of the College of (Sept. 24) New Jersey, dies]
1757 Trustees of the College of New Jersey write and offer Edwards the (Sept. 29) presidency
In his letter of October 19, 1757, Edwards responds to the invitation of the trustees to take up this new position. Among the reasons why he feels unfit for the task is the following:
“I have a constitution in many respects peculiar unhappy, attended with flaccid solids, vapid, sizy and scarce fluids, and a low tide of spirits; often occasioning a kind of childish weakness and contemptibleness of speech, presence, and demeanor; with a disagreeable dullness and stiffness, much unfitting me for conversation, but more especially for the government of a college” (Yale, 16:726).
He also cites what he believes is his deficiency “in some parts of learning, particularly in algebra, and the higher parts of mathematics.”
1758 Preaches his farewell sermon to the Indians at Stockbridge (Jan. 8)
1758 His father, Timothy Edwards, dies (Jan. 27)
1758 Original Sin published
1758 Installed as president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton (Feb. 16) University)
1758 Dies of smallpox inoculation at age fifty-four (Mar. 22)
One month after assuming his position at Princeton, Edwards is inoculated for smallpox (Feb. 23). He contracts a fever from which he dies on March 22. His final words were written 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 has so long subsisted between us, has been of such a nature as I trust is spiritual and therefore will continue forever: and I hope she will be supported under so great a trial, and submit cheerfully to the will of God. And as to my children, you are now to be left fatherless, which I hope will be an inducement to you all to seek a Father who will never fail you.”
Sarah is herself quite ill when she receives the news by letter. On April 3, she writes to her daughter Esther:
“What shall I say: A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. O that we may kiss the rod, and lay our hands on our mouths! The Lord has done it. He has made me adore his goodness that we had him so long. But my God lives; and he has my heart. O what a legacy my husband, and your father, has left to us! We are all given to God: and there I am and love to be. Your ever affectionate mother, Sarah Edwards.”
1758 Daughter Esther dies (leaving two infants, Sally and Aaron. Aaron (Apr. 7) will become vice president of the United States but sadly will not become a Christian)
1758 Sarah Edwards dies from dysentery in Philadelphia at age forty-eight (Oct. 2)
The youngest Edwards child, Betty, dies three years later at the age of fourteen. Of the seven daughters, Eunice lives the longest, dying in 1822 at the age of seventy-nine.
1771 Edwards’ mother dies at the age of ninety-eight
After Edwards’ death, Samuel Hopkins and Joseph Bellamy take up the task of preparing his manuscripts for publication.
Among the many biographical studies of Edwards, the most helpful (in alphabetical order) include the following:
Gura, Philip. F. Jonathan Edwards: America’s Evangelical. New York: Hill & Wang, 2005. 284 pp.
Marsden, George M. Jonathan Edwards: A Life. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003. 615 pp.
Murray, Iain H. Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography. Carlisle, Pa: Banner of Truth, 1987. 503 pp.
Tracy, Patricia J. Jonathan Edwards, Pastor: Religion and Society in Eighteenth-Century Northampton . New York: Hill & Wang, 1980. 270 pp.
Winslow, Ola Elizabeth. Jonathan Edwards: 1703–1758, A Biography. New York: Octagon, 1973 [1940]. 406 pp.
1I wrote the first draft of this chronology in preparation for a course I taught on the life and theology of Jonathan Edwards at Wheaton College. Upon completing the outline I discovered that Kenneth Minkema had produced a similar timeline. I have freely incorporated into my summary much of Ken’s research and am grateful for the groundbreaking work that he has done in this regard and in countless other ways to advance our understanding of Edwards. You can find Ken’s “Chronology of Edwards’ Life and Writings” in The Princeton Companion to Jonathan Edwards, ed. Sang Hyun Lee (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005), xxiii–xxviii.
2The Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press).
3Iain Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), 193.