Last words of the faithful
Jonathan Edwards
Died 22 March 1758 · Princeton, of a smallpox inoculation
Jonathan Edwards, the New England theologian and preacher, died at Princeton on 22 March 1758 from complications of a smallpox inoculation he had taken partly to encourage others. Those present recorded that his last words, spoken to his daughter Lucy about the family he was leaving, ended: trust in God, and ye need not fear.
The last words
The story behind them
He is remembered, unfairly, for one sermon about spiders and hellfire, and it is a small part of a very large body of careful and often tender work. He had been president of the college at Princeton for about five weeks when he took the smallpox inoculation, a new and risky procedure, in part to encourage a nervous town to do the same.
It went wrong. The secondary infection in his throat kept him from swallowing, and he could not take the medicine that might have saved him. He knew before anyone told him.
He knew he was going, and what he spent the time on was reassuring the people staying.</p><p class="pull">
Hopkins's account, drawing on his daughter Lucy and others in the room, records what he said near the end. He spoke of the 'uncommon union' between himself and his wife Sarah, who was not there, and hoped it would continue forever. Then he turned to the practical fear in the room, a family about to lose its provider a long way from home, and gave them the sentence he is quoted by: trust in God, and ye need not fear. Sarah, when the news reached her, wrote back that God had made her adore his goodness that they had him so long. They were not ordinary people, and it was not an ordinary marriage.
What they died for, you can meet
None of these people died for an idea. They died holding onto a Person, convinced that death was not the end because he had already walked out of a tomb. The Living Bread is a quiet place to meet that same Jesus, read the Gospels for yourself, and ask your honest questions.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- What were Jonathan Edwards's last words?
- Those present recorded that he spoke of the uncommon union between himself and his wife Sarah, and then said, 'Trust in God, and ye need not fear.' The account comes from Samuel Hopkins, drawing on his daughter Lucy and others in the room.
- How did Jonathan Edwards die?
- From complications of a smallpox inoculation taken in early 1758, partly to encourage others in Princeton to accept the new procedure. An infection in his throat prevented him from swallowing medicine. He died on 22 March 1758.
- Who was Jonathan Edwards?
- An American theologian, preacher and philosopher of the eighteenth century, a central figure in the Great Awakening, and briefly president of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton.
