N03467:329
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.
2. Endeavour now thoroughly to weigh in your Mind the Difficulty, and to count the Cost of Perseverance in seeking Salvation. You that are now setting out in this Business, (as there are many here that have very lately set about it;—Praised be the Name of ⟨p. 152⟩God that he has stirred you up to it!) be exhorted to attend this Direction. Don't undertake in this Affair, with any other Thought, but of giving your self wholly to it for the remaining Part of your Life, and going through many and great Difficulties in it. Take •eed that you don't engage secretly upon this Condition, that you shall obtain in a little Time, promising your self that it shall be within this present Season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, or with any other Limitation of Time whatsoever. Many when they begin, seeming to set out very earnestly, don't expect that they shall need to seek very long; and so don't prepare themselves for it: And therefore when they come to find it otherwise, and meet with unexpected Difficulty, they are found unguarded, and easily overthrown. But let me advise all that are now seeking their Salvation, not to entertain any self flattering Thoughts; but weigh the utmost Difficulties of Perseverance, and be provided for them, having your Mind fixed in it to go through them, let them be what they will. Consider now beforehand, how tedious it would be, with utmost Earnestness and Labour, to strive after Salvation, for many Years, in the mean time receiving no joyful o• comfortable Evidence of your having obtained. Consider what a great Temptation to Discouragement there probably would be in it; how apt you would be to yield the Case; how ready to think that 'tis in vain for you to seek any longer, and that God never intends to show you Mercy, in that he has not yet done it; how apt you would be to think with your self, What an uncomfortable Life do I live! how much more unpleasantly do I spend my Time than others, that don't perplex their Minds about the Things of another World, but are at Ease, and take the Comfort of their worldly Enjoyments! Consider what a Temptation there would probably be in it, if you saw others brought in, that began to seek the Kingdom of Heaven long after you, rejoicing in a Hope and Sense of God's Favour after but little Pains, and a short Time of Awakening; while you from Day to Day, and from Year to Year, ⟨p. 153⟩