N05663:285
A careful and strict enquiry into the modern prevailing notions of that freedom of…
A careful and strict enquiry into the modern prevailing notions of that freedom of will, which is supposed to be essential to moral agency, virtue and vice, reward and punishment, praise and blame. By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the church in Stockbridge. ; [One line from Romans]A careful and strict enquiry into the modern prevailing notions of that freedom of will, which is supposed to be essential to moral agency, vertue and vice, reward and punishment, praise and blame. By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the church in Stockbridge. ; [One line from Romans]
printed by S. Kneeland, 1754
Part 2 › Section 11: The Evidence of GOD's certain Foreknowledge of the Volitions of moral Agents.
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.
3. How often has God foretold the future moral Conduct of Nations and Peoples, of Numbers, Bodies, and Successions of Men; with God's judicial Proceedings, and many other Events consequent and dependent on their Virtues and Vices; which could not be foreknown, if the Volitions of Men, wherein they acted as moral Agents, had not been foreseen? The future Cruelty of the Egyptians ⟨p. 102⟩in oppressing Israel, and God's judging and punishing them for it, was foretold long before it came to pass. Gen. xv.13, 14. The Continuance of the Iniquity of the Amorites, and the Increase of it until it should be full, and they ripe for Destruction, was foretold above four Hundred Years before-hand, Gen. xv.16. Act. vii.6, 7. The Prophecies of the Destruction of Jerusalem, and the Land of Judah, were absolute; 2 Kings xx.17,—19. Chap. xxii.15, to the End. It was foretold in Hezekiah's Time, and was abundantly insisted on in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, who wrote Nothing after Hezekiah's Days. It was foretold in Josiah's Time, in the Beginning of a great Reformation, 2 Kings xxii. And it is manifest by innumerable Things in the Predictions of the Prophets, relating to this Event, it's Time, it's Circumstances, it's Continuance and End; the Return from the Captivity, the Restoration of the Temple, City & Land, and many Circumstances, and Consequences of That; I say, these show plainly, that the Prophecies of this great Event were absolute. And yet this Event was connected with, and dependent on two Things in Men's moral Conduct: first, the injurious Rapine and Violence of the King of Babylon and his People, as the efficient Cause; which God often speaks of as what he highly resented, and would severely punish; and 2dly, The final Obstinacy of the Jews. That great Event is often spoken of as suspended on this. Jer. iv.1. & v.1. vii.1,—7. xi.1,—6. xvii.24, to the End. xxv.1,—7. xxvi.1,—8.13. & xxxviii.17, 18. Therefore this Destruction and Captivity could not be foreknown, unless such a moral Conduct of the Chaldeans and Jews had been foreknown. And then it was foretold, that the People should be finally obstinate, to the Destruction and utter Desolation of the City and Land.