N03467:615
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.
Thus Christ appeared at the same Time, and in the same Act, as both a Lion and a Lamb. He appeared as a Lamb in the Hands of his cruel Enemies; as a Lamb in the Paws, and between the devouring Jaws of a roaring Lion; yea, he was a Lamb actually slain by this Lion: And yet at the same Time, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, he conquers and triumphs over Satan, destroying his own Devourer; as Samson did the Lion that roared upon him, when he rent him as he would a Kid. And in nothing has Christ appeared so much as a Lion, in glorious Strength destroying his Enemies, as when he was brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter: In his greatest Weakness, he was most Strong; and when he suffered most from his Enemies, he brought the greatest Confusion on his Enemies.
Thus this admirable Conjunction of diverse Excellencies was manifest in Christ, in his offering up himself to God in his last Sufferings.
IV. 'Tis still manifest in his Acts, in his present State of Exaltation in Heaven Indeed in his exalted State he most eminently appears in a Manifestation of those Excellencies, on the Account of which he is compared to a Lion; but still he appears as a Lamb. Rev. 14. 1. And I looked, and •o a Lamb stood on Mount Zion. As in his State of Humiliation, he chiefly appeared as a Lamb, and yet did not appear without Manifestations of his divine Majesty and Power, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah Though Christ be now at the Right Hand of God, exalted as King of Heaven, and Lord of the Universe; yet as he still is in the human Nature, he still excels in Humility. Though the Man Christ Jesus be the highest of all Creatures in Heaven, yet he as much ⟨p. 269⟩excels them all in Humility, as he doth in Glory and Dignity; for none sees so much of the Distance between God and him, as he does. And though he now appears in such glorious Majesty and Dominion in Heaven, yet he appears as a Lamb in his condescending, mild and sweet Treatment of his Saints there; for he is a Lamb still, even in the midst of the Throne of his Exaltation; and he that is the Shepherd of the whole Flock, is himself a Lamb, and goes before them in Heaven as such.