N03467:476
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.
Seeing you thus disregard so great a God, is it a heinous Thing for God to slight you, a little, wretched, despicable Creature; a Worm, a mere Nothing, and less than Nothing; a vile In•ect, that has risen up in Contempt against the Majesty of Heaven and Earth?
Seeing you thus disregard so great a God, is it a heinous Thing for God to slight you, a little, wretched, despicable Creature; a Worm, a meer Nothing, and less than Nothing; a vile In•ect, that has risen up in Contempt against the Majesty of Heaven and Earth?
3. Why should God be looked upon obliged to bestow Salvation upon you, when you have been so ungrateful for the Mercies he has bestowed upon you already? ⟨p. 214⟩God has tried you with a great Deal of Kindness, and he never has sincerely been thanked by you for any of it. God has watched over you, and preserved you, and provided for you, and followed you with Mercy all your Days; […] yet you have continued sinning against him. He […] given you Food and Raiment, but you have improved both in the Service of Sin. He has preserved you while you slept; but when you arose, it was to return to the old Trade of sinning. God notwithstanding this Ingratitude, has still continued his Mercy; but his Kindness has never won your Heart, or brought you to a more grateful Behaviour towards him. It may be you have received many remarkable Mercies, Recoveries from Sickness, or Preservations of your Life, when at one Time and another exposed by Accidents, when if you had died, you would have gone directly to Hell: But you never had any true Thankfulness for any of these Mercies. God has kept you out of Hell, and continued your Day of Grace, and the Offers of Salvation, this so long a Time; and that, it may be, while you did not regard your own Salvation so much as to go in Secret and ask God for it: And now God has greatly added to his Mercy to you, by giving you the Strivings of his Spirit, whereby you have a most precious Opportunity for your Salvation in your Hands. But what Thanks has God received for it? What Kind of Returns have you made for all this Kindness? As God has multiplied Mercies, so have you multiplied Provocations.