Thursday, 25 September 2008

• Jonathan Edwards

  I found something the other day (actually a few months ago) that really impressed me. I don't know if it was the fact that a woman like this existed or that a someone was able to express so clearly what an honorable woman looks like, but someone who I already admired became even more of a legend in my eyes. The man is Jonathan Edwards, and I envy him very much, for a lot of things. He was a genius - universally accepted as one of the greatest philosophers American soil has produced.

  Below is a quote from Jonathan Edwards. At the end of his life, he was away from his wife and unable to see her again before he died. I have read several mini-biographies in addition to some of his works, and they have all commented on his wife's uncommon beauty. And they have all commented on the couple's very passionate marriage. This quote blew me away and shaped my perception of finding a wife. First, a writing from his younger days of a girl that caught his eye:

  "They say there is a young lady in New Haven who is beloved of that great 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 up 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 with His love and delight forever. Therefore if you present all the world before her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards and cares not for it, and is unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her mind, and singular purity in her affections; is most just and conscientious in all her conduct, and you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful if you would give her all the world, lest she would offend this great Being. She is of a wonderful calmness, and universal benevolence of mind, especially after this great God has manifested Himself to her 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 her."

  I want to find this woman. A version of her for this time and this place, of course, but this is the woman I want. If I don't find her, I'll be fine to continue by myself. But this is what I want. I guess I will have to be a man worthy of her though, and that will be hard to do. Requiring a lot of discipline and mastery of my own will. A lot of sacrifice and a lot of humility. Because at the end of it all I also want to be able to say to her:

  "Give my kindest love to my dearest 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."

  Jonathan Edwards was the man. A pretty lucky guy.

   

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