N03467:810
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.
She was of a rational understanding Family: there could be nothing in her Education that tended to Enthusiasm, but rather to the contrary extreme. 'Tis in no wise the Temper of the Family to be ostentatious of Experiences, and it was far from being her Temper. She was before her Conversion; to the Observation of her Neighbours, of a sober and inoffensive Conversation; and was a still, quiet, reserved Person. She had long been infirm of Body, but her Infirmity had never been observed at all to incline her to be notional or fanciful, or to occasion any thing of religious Melancholy. She was under Awakenings scarcely a Week before there seemed to be plain Evidence of her being savingly converted.
She was of a rational understanding Family: there could be nothing in her Education that tended to Enthusiasm, but rather to the contrary extreme. 'Tis in no wise the Temper of the Family to be oftentatious of Experiences, and it was far from being her Temper. She was before her Conversion; to the Observation of her Neighbours, of a sober and inoffensive Conversation; and was a still, quie•, reserv'd Person. She had long been infirm of Body, but her Infi•mity had never been observed at all to incline her to be notional or fanciful, or to occasion any thing of religious Melancholy. She was under Awakenings scarcely a Week before there seem'd to be plain Evidence of her being savingly converted.
She was first awakened in the Winter Season, on Monday, by something she heard her Brother say of the Necessity of being in good earnest in seeking regenerating ⟨p. 57⟩Grace, together with the News of the Conversion of the young Woman before mentioned, whose Conversion so generally affected most of the young People here. This News wrought much upon her, and stirred up a Spirit of Envy in her towards this young Woman, whom she thought very unworthy of being distinguished from others by such a Mercy; but withal it engaged her in a firm Resolution to do her utmost to obtain the same Blessing; and considering with herself what Course she should take, she thought, that she had not a sufficient Knowledge of the Principles of Religion, to render her capable of Conversion; whereupon she resolved thoroughly to search the Scriptures; and accordingly immediately began at the beginning of the Bible, intending to read it through. She continued thus till Thursday; and then there was a sudden Alteration, by a great Increase of her Concern, in an extraordinary sense of her own Sinfulness, particularly the Sinfulness of her Nature, and Wickedness of her Heart, which came upon her (as she expressed it) as a Flash of Lightning, and struck her into an exceeding Terror. Upon which she left off reading the Bible in Course as she had begun, and turned to the New-Testament, to see if she could not find some relief there for her distressed Soul.