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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.
Discourse 4: The Justice of GOD in the Damnation of Sinners.
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.
A Crime is more or less Heinous, according as we are under greater or lesser Obligations to the contrary. This is self-evident, because it is herein that the Criminalness, or Faultiness of any Thing consists, that it is contrary to what we are obliged or bound to, or what ought to be in us. So the Faultiness of one Beings hating another, is in Proportion to his Obligation to love him: The Crime of one Beings despising, and casting Contempt on another, is proportionably more or less Heinous as he was under greater or lesser Obligations to honour him: The Fault of disobeying another, is greater or less, ⟨p. 197⟩as any one is under greater or lesser Obligations to obey him. And therefore if there be any Being, that we are under infinite Obligations to love, and honour, and obey, the Contrary towards him must be infinitely Faulty.
Our Obligation to love, honour, and obey any Being, is in Proportion to his Loveliness, Honourableness, and Authority. For that is the very Meaning of the Words, when we say any one is very lovely; it is the same as to say, that he is one very much to be loved: Or if we say such an one is more honourable than another; the Meaning of the Words is, that he is one that we are more obliged to honour. If we say any one has great Authority over us, 'tis the same as to say that he has great Right to our Subjection and Obedience.
But God is a Being infinitely lovely, because he hath infinite Excellency and Beauty. To have infinite Excellency and Beauty, is the same Thing as to have infinite Loveliness. He is a Being of infinite Greatness, Majesty and Glory; and therefore is infinitely honourable. He is infinitely exalted above the greatest Potentates of the Earth, and highest Angels in Heaven; and therefore is infinitely more honourable than they. His Authority over us is infinite; and the Ground of his Right to our Obedience, is infinitely strong; for he is infinitely worthy to be obeyed in himself, and we have an absolute universal and infinite Dependence upon him.