Selected Sermons of Jonathan EdwardsEdwards, Jonathan
Religion
Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards
Edwards, Jonathan
Congregational churches -- Sermons; Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758; Sermons, American
1. Man hath so much the greater occasion and obligation to take notice and
acknowledge God's perfections and all-sufficiency. The greater the
creature's dependence is on God's perfections, and the greater concern he
has with them, so much the greater occasion has he to take notice of them.
So much the greater concern any one has with, and dependence upon, the
power and grace of God, so much the greater occasion has he to take notice
of that power and grace. So much the greater and more immediate dependence
there is on the divine holiness, so much the greater occasion to take
notice of and acknowledge that. So much the greater and more absolute
dependence we have on the divine perfections, as belonging to the several
persons of the Trinity, so much the greater occasion have we to observe
and own the divine glory of each of them. That which we are most concerned
with, is surely most in the way of our observation and notice; and this
kind of concern with any thing, viz., dependence, does especially tend to
commend and oblige the attention and observation. Those things that we are
not much dependent upon, 'tis easy to neglect; but we can scarce do any
other than mind that which we have a great dependence on. By reason of our
so great dependence on God and his perfections, and in so many respects,
he and his glory are the more directly set in our view, which way soever
we turn our eyes.
We have the greater occasion to take notice of God's all-sufficiency, when
all our sufficiency is thus every way of him. We have the more occasion to
contemplate him as an infinite good, and as the fountain of all good. Such
a dependence on God demonstrates God's all-sufficiency. So much as the
dependence of the creature is on God, so much the greater does the
creature's emptiness in himself appear to be; and so much the greater the
creature's emptiness, so much the greater must the fulness of the Being be
who supplies him. Our having all _of_ God shows the fulness of his power
and grace: our having all _through_ him shows the fulness of his merit and
worthiness; and our having all _in_ him demonstrates his fulness of
beauty, love and happiness.
And the redeemed, by reason of the greatness of their dependence on God,
han't only so much the greater occasion, but obligation to contemplate and
acknowledge the glory and fulness of God. How unreasonable and ungrateful
should we be if we did not acknowledge that sufficiency and glory that we
do absolutely, immediately and universally depend upon!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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