N03467:731
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.
God has also seemed to have gone out of his usual way, in the Quickness of his Work, and the swift Progress his Spirit has made in his Operations on the Hearts of many: 'Tis wonderful that Persons should be so suddenly, and yet so greatly changed: Many have been taken from a loose and careless way of Living, and seized with strong Convictions of their Guilt and ⟨p. 18⟩Misery, and in a very little time old Things have passed away, and all Things have become new with them.
God's Work has also appeared very extraordinary, in the Degrees of the Influences of his Spirit, both in the Degree of Awakening and Conviction, and also in the Degree of saving Light, and Love, and Joy, that many have experienced. It has also been very extraordinary in the Extent of it, and its being so swiftly propagated from Town to Town. In former Times of the pouring out of the Spirit of God on this Town, tho' in some of them it was very Remarkable, yet it reached no further than this Town, the neighbouring Towns all around continued unmoved.
The Work of God's Spirit seemed to be at its greatest Height in this Town, in the former part of the Spring, in March and April; at which time God's Work in the Conversion of Souls was carried on amongst us in so wonderful a manner, that so far as I, by looking back, can judge from the particular Acquaintance I have had with Souls in this Work, it appears to me probable, to have been at the Rate, at least, of four Persons in a Day, or near thirty in a Week, take one with another, for five or six Weeks together: When God in so remarkable a manner took the Work into his own Hands, there was as much done in a Day or two, as at ordinary Times, with all Endeavours that Men can use, and with such a Blessing as we commonly have, is done in a Year.