Selected Sermons of Jonathan EdwardsEdwards, Jonathan
Religion
Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards
Edwards, Jonathan
Congregational churches -- Sermons; Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758; Sermons, American
The good of the redeemed is either objective or inherent. By their
objective good I mean that intrinsic object, in the possession and
enjoyment of which they are happy. Their inherent good is that excellency
or pleasure which is in the soul itself. With respect to both of which the
redeemed have all their good in God, or, which is the same thing, God
himself is all their good.
1. The redeemed have all their _objective_ good in God. God himself is the
great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by
redemption. He is the highest good and the sum of all that good which
Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion
of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life,
their dwelling-place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting
honor and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good
which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to
at the end of the world. The Lord God, he is the light of the heavenly
Jerusalem; and is the "river of the water of life," that runs, and "the
tree of life that grows, in the midst of the paradise of God." The
glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever
entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their
everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will
enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another; but that which they shall
enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in any thing else whatsoever that
will yield them delight and happiness, will be what will be seen of God in
them.
2. The redeemed have all their _inherent_ good in God. Inherent good is
twofold; 'tis either excellency or pleasure. These the redeemed not only
derive from God, as caused by him, but have them in him. They have
spiritual excellency and joy by a kind of participation of God. They are
made excellent by a communication of God's excellency: God puts his own
beauty, i.e., his beautiful likeness, upon their souls: they are made
partakers of the divine nature, or moral image of God, 2 Pet. i. 4. They
are holy by being made partakers of God's holiness, Heb. xii. 10. The
saints are beautiful and blessed by a communication of God's holiness and
joy, as the moon and planets are bright by the sun's light. The saint hath
spiritual joy and pleasure by a kind of effusion of God on the soul. In
these things the redeemed have communion with God; that is, they partake
with him and of him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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