N13864:884
A history of the work of redemption. Containing the outlines of a body of…
A history of the work of redemption. Containing the outlines of a body of divinity, in a method entirely new. / By the late Reverend Mr. Jonathan Edwards, president of the College of New Jersey[.]
Boston: printed by Draper & Folsom, 1782
A HISTORY Of the WORK of REDEMPTION. › Period 3 › Part 2 › Section 1
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.
When the Spirit begins to be so gloriously poured forth, and the devil sees such multitudes flocking to Christ in one nation and another, and the foundations of his kingdom daily undermining, and the pillars of it breaking, and the whole ready to come to swift and sudden destruction, it will greatly alarm all hell. Satan has ever had a dread of having his kingdom overthrown, and he has been opposing of it ever since Christs ascension, and has been doing great works to fortify his kingdom, and to prevent it, ever since the day of Constantine the Great. To this end he has set ⟨p. 252⟩up those two mighty kingdoms of Antichrist and Mahomet, and brought in all the heresies, and superstitions, and corrupt opinions which there are in the world. But when he sees all begins to fail it will rouse him exceedingly. If Satan dreaded being cast out of the Roman empire, how much more does he dread being cast out of the whole world!
When the Spirit begins to be so gloriously poured forth, and the devil sees such multitudes flocking to Christ in one nation and another, and the foundations of his kingdom daily undermining, and the pillars of it b•eaking, and the whole ready to come to swift and sudden destruction, it will greatly alarm all hell. Satan has ever had a dread of having his kingdom overthrown, and he has been opposing of it ever since Christ•s ascension, and has been doing great works to fortify his kingdom, and to prevent it, ever since the day of Constantine the Great. To this end he has set ⟨p. 252⟩up those two mighty kingdoms of Antichrist and Mahomet, and brought in all the heresies, and superstitions, and corrupt opinions which there are in the world. But when he sees all begins to fail it will rouse him exceedingly. If Satan dreaded being cast out of the Roman empire, how much more does he dread being cast out of the whole world!
It seems as though in this last great opposition which shall be made against the church to defend the kingdom of Satan, all the forces of Antichrist, and Mohammedanism, and Heathenism, will be united; and all the forces of Satan's visible kingdom through the whole world of mankind, Therefore it is said, that "spirits of devils shall go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of the great day of God Almighty." These spirits are said to come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophets; i. e. there shall be the spirit of Popery, and the spirit of Mohammedanism, and the spirit of Heathenism, all united. By the beast is meant Antichrist; by the dragon, in this book, is commonly meant the devil, as he reigns over his Heathen kingdom; by the false prophet, in this book, is sometimes meant the Pope and his clergy: but here an eye seems to be had to Mahomet, whom his followers call a great prophet of God. This will be as it were the dying struggles of the old serpent: a battle wherein he will fight as one that is almost desperate.