N03467:508
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 as long as they are unconvinced of this, 'tis impossible they should be willing to accept of him as their Mediator and Saviour. A Man in distressing Fear won't willingly betake himself to a Fort that he judges not sufficient to defend him from the Enemy: A Man won't willingly venture out into the Ocean, in a Ship that he suspects is leaky, and will sink before he gets through his Voyage.
3. 'Tis evident that you are not willing to have Christ son your Saviour, because you have so mean an Opinion of him, that you durst not trust his Faithfulness. One that undertakes to be the Saviour of Souls had need be faithful; for if he fails in such a Trust, how great is the Loss! But you are not convinced of Christ's Faithfulness; as is evident, because at such Times as when you are in a considerable Measure sensible of your Guilt and God's Anger, you can't be convinced that Christ is willing to accept of you, or that he stands ready to receive you if you should come to him, though Christ so much invites you to come to him, and has so fully declared that he won't reject you, if you do come; as particularly, John 6▪ 37. He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast cut. Now, there is no Man can be heartily willing to trust his eternal Welfare in the Hands of an unfaithful Person, or one whose Faithfulness he suspects.
4. You are not willing to be saved in that Way by Christ, as is evident, because you are not willing that your own Goodness should be set at nought. In the Way of Salvation by Christ Men's own Goodness is wholly set at nought, there is no Account at all made of it. Now you can't be willing to be saved in a Way wherein your own Goodness is set at nought, as is evident by that, that you make much of it your self. You make much of your Prayers and Pains in Religion, and are often thinking of them; how considerable do they appear to you, when you look back upon them! And how much are some of you in thinking how much more