N03467:573
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.
Such a Conjunction of such infinite Highness, and low Condescension, in the same Person, is admirable. We see by manifold Instances, what a Tendency an high Station has in Men, to make them to be of a quite contrary Disposition. If one Worm be a little exalted above another, by having more Dust, or a bigger Dunghill, how much does he make of himself! What a Distance does he keep from those that are below him! And a little Condescension, is what he expects should be made much of, and greatly acknowledged. Christ condescends to wash our Feet; but how would great Men, (or rather the bigger Worms,) account themselves debased by Acts of far less Condescension!
Such a Conjunction of such infinite Highness, and low Condescension, in the same Person, is admirable. We see by manifold Instances, what a Tendency an high Station has in Men, to make them to be of a quite contrary Disposition. If one Worm be a little exalted above another, by having more Dust, or a bigger Dunghill, how much does he make of himself! What a Distance does he keep from those that are below him! And a little Condescension, is what he expects should be made much of, and greatly acknowleged. Christ condescends to wash our Feet; but how would great Men, (or rather the bigger Worms,) account themselves debased by Acts of far less Condescension!
2. There meet in Jesus Christ, infinite Justice, and infinite Grace. As Christ is a divine Person he is infinitely holy and just, infinitely hating Sin, and disposed to execute condign Punishment for Sin. He is the Judge of the World, and is the infinitely just Judge of it, and will not at all acquit the wicked, or by any Means clear the guilty.
And yet he is one that is infinitely gracious and merciful. Though his Justice be so strict with Respect to all Sin, and every Breach of the Law, yet he has Grace sufficient for every Sinner, and even the chief of Sinners. And it is not only sufficient for the most unworthy to show them Mercy, and bestow some good upon them, but to bestow the greatest Good; yea, 'tis sufficient to bestow all Good upon them, and to do all Things for them. There is no Benefit or Blessing that they can receive so great, but the Grace of Christ is sufficient to bestow it on the greatest Sinner that ever lived. And not only so, but so great is his Grace, that nothing is too much as the Means of this Good: 'Tis sufficient not only to do great Things, but also to suffer in order to it; and not only to suffer, but to suffer most extremely, even unto Death, the most terrible of natural Evils; and not only Death, but the most ignominious&tormenting, and every Way the most terrible Death that Men could inflict; yea, and greater Sufferings than Men could inflict, who could only torment the Body, but also those Sufferings in his Soul, that were the more immediate Fruits of the Wrath of God against the Sins of those he undertakes for.