N02859:43
God glorified in the work of redemption, by the greatness of man's dependence upon…God glorified in the work of redemption, by the greatness of man's dependance upon…
God glorified in the work of redemption, by the greatness of man's dependence upon him, in the whole of it. A sermon preached on the public lecture in Boston, July 8. 1731. : And published at the desire of several, ministers and others, in Boston, who heard it. / By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the Church of Christ in Northampton. ; [Two lines from Judges]God glorified in the work of redemption, by the greatness of man's dependance upon him, in the whole of it. A sermon preached on the publick lecture in Boston, July 8. 1731. : And published at the desire of several, ministers and others, in Boston, who heard it. / By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the Church of Christ in Northampton. ; [Two lines from Judges]
Boston: printed by S. Kneeland for D. Henchman, 1731
Title page typeset from the transcription.
GOD Glorified in Man's Dependence.GOD Glorified in Man's Dependance.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Man hath now a greater Dependence on the Grace of God than he had before the Fall. He depends on the free Goodness of God for much more than he did then: Then he depended on God's Goodness for conferring the Reward of perfect Obedience; for God was not obliged to promise and bestow that Reward: But now we are dependent on the Grace of God for much more: We stand in need of Grace, not only to bestow Glory upon us, but to deliver us from Hell and eternal Wrath. Under the first Covenant we depended ⟨p. 8⟩on God's Goodness to give us the Reward of Righteousness; and so we do now. And not only so, but we stand in need of God's free & sovereign Grace to give us that Righteousness; and yet not only so, but we stand in need of his Grace to pardon our Sin, and release us from the Guilt and infinite Demerit of it.
Man hath now a greater Dependance on the Grace of God than he had before the Fall. He depends on the free Goodness of God for much more than he did then: Then he depended on God's Goodness for conferring the Reward of perfect Obedience; for God was not obliged to promise and bestow that Reward: But now we are dependent on the Grace of God for much more: We stand in need of Grace, not only to bestow Glory upon us, but to deliver us from Hell and eternal Wrath. Under the first Covenant we depended ⟨p. 8⟩on God's Goodness to give us the Reward of Righteousness; and so we do now. And not only so, but we stand in need of God's free & sovereign Grace to give us that Righteousness; and yet not only so, but we stand in need of his Grace to pardon our Sin, and release us from the Guilt and infinite Demerit of it.
And as we are dependent on the Goodness of God for more now than under the first Covenant, so we are dependent on a much greater, more free and wonderful Goodness. We are now more dependent on God's arbitrary and sovereign good Pleasure. We were in our first Estate dependent on God for Holiness: We had our original Righteousness from him; but then Holiness was not bestowed in such a Way of sovereign good Pleasure as it is now. Man was created holy, and it become God to create holy all the reasonable Creatures he created: It would have been a Disparagement to the Holiness of God's Nature, if he had made an intelligent Creature unholy. But now when Man is made holy, it is from mere and arbitrary Grace; God may for ever deny Holiness to the fallen Creature if he pleases, without any Disparagement to any of his Perfections.