N03467:540
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 this Objection be good, then the Exercise of God's Mercy is not in his own Right, and his Grace is not his own to give. That which God may not dispose of as he pleases, is not his own; for that which is ones own, is at his own Disposal: but if it be not God's own, then he is not capable of making a Gift or Present of it to any one; it is impossible to give a Debt.
What is it that you would make of God? Must the great God be tied up to that, that he must not use his own Pleasure in bestowing his own Gifts, but if he bestows them on one, must be looked upon obliged to bestow them on another? Is not God worthy to have the same Right, with Respect to the Gifts of his Grace, that a Man has to his Money or Goods? Is it because God is not so great, and should be more in Subjection than Man, that this can't be allowed him? If any of you see Cause to show Kindness to a Neighbour, do all the Rest of your Neighbours come to you, and tell you that you owe them so much as you have given to such a Man? But this is the Way that you deal with God! as though God were not worthy to have as absolute a Property in his Goods, as you have in your's!
What is it that you would make of God? Must the great God be tied up to that, that he must not use his own Pleasure in bestowing his own Gifts, but if he bestows them on one, must be looked upon obliged to bestow them on another? Is not God worthy to have the same Right, with Respect to the Gifts of his Grace, that a Man has to his Money or Goods? Is it because God is not so great, and should be more in Subjection than Man, that this can't be allowed him? If any of you see Cause to shew Kindness to a Neighbour, do all the Rest of your Neighbours come to you, and tell you that you owe them so much as you have given to such a Man? But this is the Way that you deal with God! as though God were not worthy to have as absolute a Property in his Goods, as you have in your's!