N03467:478
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.
And yet now are you ready to quarrel for Mercy, and to find Fault with God, not only that he don't bestow more Mercy, but to contend with him, because he don't bestow infinite Mercy upon you, Heaven with all it contains, and even Himself, for your eternal Portion? What Ideas have you of your self, that you think God is obliged to do so much for you, though you treat him never so ungratefully for his Kindness that you have been followed with all the Days of your Life?
4. You have voluntarily chosen to be with Satan in his Enmity and Opposition to God, how justly therefore ⟨p. 215⟩might you be with him in his Punishment! You did not choose to be on God's Side, but rather chose to side with the Devil, and have obstinately continued in it, against God's often repeated Calls and Counsels. You have chosen rather to hearken to Satan than to God, and would be with him in his Work: You have given your self up to him, to be subject to his Power and Government, in Opposition to God. How justly therefore may God also give you up to him, and leave you in his Power, to accomplish your Ruin? Seeing you have yielded your self to his Will, to do as he would have you, surely God may leave you in his Hands to execute his Will upon you. If Men will be with God's Enemy, and on his Side, why is God obliged to redeem them out of his Hands, when they have done his Work? Doubtless you would be glad to serve the Devil, and be God's Enemy while you live, and then to have God your Friend, and to deliver you from the Devil, when you come to die: But will God be unjust if he deals otherwise by you? No surely! It will be altogether and perfectly just, that you should have your Portion with him, with whom you have chosen your Work; and that you should be in his Possession to whose Dominion you have yielded your self; and if you cry to God for Deliverance, he may most justly give you that Answer, Judges 10. 14. Go to the Gods which ye have chosen.
4. You have voluntarily chosen to be with Satan in his Enmity and Opposition to God, how justly therefore