N03467:517
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. If you would be willing if you could, that is no Excuse, unless your Willingness to be willing be sincere. That which is hypocritical, and don't come from the Heart, but is merely forced, ought wholly to be set aside, as worthy of no Consideration, and that because common Sense teaches that that which is not hearty but hypocritical is indeed nothing, being only a Show of what is not; but that which is good for nothing, ought to go for nothing. But if you set aside all that is not free, & call nothing a Willingness but a free hearty Willingness, then see how the Case stands, & whether or no you have not lost all your Excuse for standing out against the Calls of the Gospel You say you would make your self willing to accept if you could; but 'tis not from any good Principle that you are willing for that; 'tis not from any free Inclination, or true Respect to Christ, or any Love to your Duty, or any Spirit of Obedience, or from the influence of any Manner of real Respect, or Tendency ⟨p. 229⟩in your Heart, towards any Thing that is good, or from any other Principle than such as is in the Hearts of Devils, and would make them have the same Sort of Willingness in the same Circumstances. It is therefore evident that there can be no Goodness in that woulding to be willing to come to Christ: And that which has no Goodness, can't be an Excuse for any Badness. If there be no good in it, then it signifies nothing & weighs nothing, when put into the Scales to counterbalance that which is bad.
2. If you would be willing if you could, that is no Excuse, unless your Willingness to be willing be sincere. That which is hypocritical, and don't come from the Heart, but is meerly forced, ought wholly to be set aside, as worthy of no Consideration, and that because common Sense teaches that that which is not hearty but hypocritical is indeed nothing, being only a Shew of what is not; but that which is good for nothing, ought to go for nothing. But if you set aside all that is not free, & call nothing a Willingness but a free hearty Willingness, then see how the Case stands, & whether or no you have not lost all your Excuse for standing out against the Calls of the Gospel You say you would make your self willing to accept if you could; but 'tis not from any good Principle that you are willing for that; 'tis not from any free Inclination, or true Respect to Christ, or any Love to your Duty, or any Spirit of Obedience, or from the influence of any Manner of real Respect, or Tendency