Love = Noble Maturity: I Corinthians 13:11

By Natalie, Editress of Visionary Womanhood

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. (I Corinthians 13:11)

The following is “…a prose poem that [Jonathan] Edwards wrote to his then-future wife. In Sarah Pierpont, Edwards found a woman truly after his own heart. This ode to Sarah gives a helpful overview of Edward’s understanding of the Christian life. Sarah epitomized the life of love in this world, and therefore she serves as a portrait of “true religion.” (Charity and Its Fruits pg. 322)

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 she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from him always. There she is to dwell with him, and to be ravished by his love, favor and delight, forever.

Therefore, if you present all the world before her, with the riches of its treasures, she disregards it and cares not for it, and is unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her mind, and sweetness of temper, uncommon purity in her affections; is most just and praiseworthy in all her actions; and you could not persuade her to do anything thought wrong or sinful, if you would give her all the world, lest she should offend this great Being.

She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind; especially after those times in which this great God has manifested himself to her mind. She will sometimes go about, singing sweetly, from place to [place]; and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, and to wander in the fields and on the mountains, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her.

If you are interested in learning more about this fascinating, God-honoring couple, I recommend Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds.