N03467:802
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.
Many in the Country have entertained a mean Thought of this great Work that there has been amongst us, from what they have heard of Impressions that have been made on Persons Imaginations. But there have been exceeding great Misrepresentations, and innumerable false Reports concerning that Matter. Tis not, that I know of, the Profession or Opinion of any one Person in the Town, that any weight is to be laid on any thing seen with the bodily Eyes: I know the contrary to be a received and established Principle amongst us. I cannot say that there have been no Instances of Persons that have been ready to give too much heed to vain and useless Imaginations; but they have been easily corrected, and I conclude it will not be wondered at, that a Congregation should need a Guide in such Cases, to assist them in distinguishing Wheat from Chaff. But such Impressions on the Imagination as have been more usual, seem to me, to be plainly no other, than what is to be expected in human Nature in such Circumstances, and […] is the natural Result of the strong Exercise of the Mind, and Impressions on the Heart.
Many in the Country have entertain'd a mean Thought of this great Work that there has been amongst us, from what they have heard of Impressions that have been made on Persons Imaginations. But there have been exceeding great Misrepresentations, and innumerable false Reports concerning that Matter. Tis not, that I know of, the Profession or Opinion of any one Person in the Town, that any weight is to be laid on any thing seen with the bodily Eyes: I know the contrary to be a receiv'd and established Principle amongst us. I cannot say that there have been no Instances of Persons that have been ready to give too much heed to vain and useless Imaginations; but they have been easily corrected, and I conclude it will not be wondered at, that a Congregation should need a Guide in such Cases, to assist them in distinguishing Wheat from Chaff. But such Impressions on the Imagination as have been more usual, seem to me, to be plainly no other, than what is to be expected in human Nature in such Circumstances, and 〈…〉 is the natural Result of the strong Exercise of the Mind, and Impressions on the Heart.