N02859:44
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.
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.
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 bestow'd 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 meer and arbitrary Grace; God may for ever deny Holiness to the fallen Creature if he pleases, without any Disparagement to any of his Perfections.
And we are not only indeed more dependent on the Grace of God, but our Dependence is much more conspicuous, because our own Insufficiency and Helplessness in our selves is much more apparent, in our fallen and undone State, than it was before we were either sinful or miserable. We are more apparently dependent on God for Holiness, because we are first sinful, and utterly polluted, and afterward holy: So the Production of ⟨p. 9⟩the Effect is sensible, and its Derivation from God more obvious. If Man was ever holy and always was so, it would not be so apparent, that he had not Holiness necessarily, as an inseparable Qualification of human Nature. So we are more apparently dependent on free Grace for the Favour of God, for we are first justly the Objects of his Displeasure, and afterwards are received into Favour. We are more apparently dependent on God for Happiness, being first miserable, and afterwards happy. 'Tis more apparently free and without Merit in us, because we are actually without any kind of Excellency to merit, if there could be any such thing as Merit in Creature Excellency. And we are not only without any true Excellency, but are full of, and wholly defiled with, that which is infinitely odious. All our Good is more apparently from God, because we are first naked and wholly without any Good, and afterwards enriched with all Good.