N03467:216
Discourses on various important subjects, nearly concerning the great affair of the soul's eternal…
Discourses on various important subjects, nearly concerning the great affair of the soul's eternal salvation, viz. I. Justification by faith alone. II. Pressing into the Kingdom of God. III. Ruth's resolution. IV. The justice of God in the damnation of sinners. V. The excellency of Jesus Christ. : Delivered at Northampton, chiefly at the time of the late wonderful pouring out of the spirit of God there. / By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the Church of Christ in Northampton. ; [Three lines from Deuteronomy]
Boston: printed by S. Kneeland and T. Green, 1738
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
Believers having a Title to Heaven by Faith antecedent to their Obedience, or it's being absolutely promised to them before, don't hinder but that the actual Bestowment of Heaven may also be a Testimony of God's Regard to their Obedience, tho' performed afterwards. Thus it was with Abraham, the Father and Pattern of all Believers: God bestowed upon him that Blessing of multiplying his Seed as the Stars of Heaven, and causing that in his Seed all the Families of the Earth should be blessed, in Reward for his Obedience, in Offering ⟨p. 96⟩up his Son Isaac, Gen. 22. 16, 17, 18. And said by my self have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this Thing, and hast not withheld thy Son, thine only Son, that in blessing I will bless thee; and in multiplying I will multiply thy Seed, as the Stars of Heaven, and as the Sand which is upon the Sea Shore, and thy Seed shall possess the Gate of his Enemies, and in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth •e blessed; because thou hast obeyed my Voice. And yet the very same Blessings had been from time to time promised to Abraham, in the most positive Terms, and the Promise with great Solemnity, confirmed and sealed to him; as Chap. 12. 2, 3 Chap. 13. 16. Chap. 15. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, &c. Chap. 17. throughout. Chap. 18 10, 18.
From what has been said we may easily solve the Difficulty arising from that Text, in Rev. 3. 4 They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Which is parallel with that Text in Luke 20. 35. But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World, and the Resurrection from the Dead—. I allow (as in the Objection) that this Worthiness does doubtless denote a moral Fitness to the Reward, or that God looks on these glorious Benefits a meet Testimony of his Regard to the Value which their Persons and Performances have in his Sight.