— PERIOD II —
The Time of Christ's Humiliation.
— PERIOD III —
From Christ's Resurrection to the End of the World.
— PREFACE —
It has long been desired by the
friends of Mr. Edwards, that a number of his manuscripts should be published,
but the disadvantage under which all posthumous publications must necessarily
appear, and the difficulty of getting any considerable work printed in this
infant country hitherto, have proved sufficient obstacles to the execution of
such a proposal. The first of these obstacles made me doubt, for a considerable
time after these manuscripts came into my hands, whether I could, consistently
with that regard which I owe to the honor of so worthy a parent, suffer any of
them to appear in the world. However, being diffident of my own sentiments, and
doubtful whether I were not over jealous in this matter, I determined to submit
to the opinion of gentlemen, who are friends both to the character of Mr.
Edwards and to the cause of truth. The consequence was, that they gave their
advice for publishing them.
The other obstacle was removed by a gentleman in the
church of Scotland, who was formerly a correspondent of Mr. Edwards. He engaged
a bookseller to undertake the work, and also signified his desire that these
following discourses in particular might be made public.
Mr. Edwards had planned a body of divinity, in a new
method, and in the form of a history, in which he was first to show, how the
most remarkable events, in all ages from the fall to the present times, recorded
in sacred and profane history, were adapted to promote the work of redemption,
and then to trace, by the light of scripture prophecy, how the same work should
be yet further carried on even to the end of the world. His heart was so much
set on executing this plan, that he was considerably averse to accept the
presidency of Princeton college, lest the duties of that office should put it
out of his power.
The outlines of that work are now offered to the public,
as contained in a series of sermons, preached at Northampton in 1739,
without any view to publication. On that account, the reader cannot reasonably
expect all that from them, which he might justly have expected, had they been
written with such a view, and prepared by the Author’s own hand for the
press.
As to elegance of composition, which is now esteemed so
essential to all publications, it is well known, that the Author did not make
that his chief study. However, his other writings, though destitute of the
ornaments of fine language, have it seems that solid merit, which has procured
both to themselves and to him a considerable reputation in the world, and with
many an high esteem. It is hoped that the reader will find in these discourses
many traces of plain good sense, sound reasoning, and thorough knowledge of the
sacred oracles, and real unfeigned piety. And that, as the plan is new, and many
of the sentiments uncommon, they may afford entertainment and improvement to the
ingenious, the inquisitive, and the pious reader, may confirm their faith in
God’s government of the world, in our holy Christian religion in general, and in
many of its peculiar doctrines, may assist in studying with greater pleasure and
advantage the historical and prophetic books of Scripture, and may excite to a
conversation becoming the gospel.
That this volume may produce these happy effects in all
who shall peruse it, is the hearty desire and prayer of the reader’s most humble
servant,
JONATHAN EDWARDS.
New Haven, Feb. 25, 1773.
— ADVERTISEMENT —
THEY who have a relish for the study
of the Scriptures, and have access to peruse the following sheets, will, I am
persuaded, deem themselves much indebted to the Reverend Mr. Edwards of New
Haven for consenting to publish them. Though the acute philosopher and deep
divine appears in them, yet they are in the general better calculated for the
instruction and improvement of ordinary Christians, than those of President
Edwards’ writings, where the abstruse nature of the subject, or the subtle
objections of opposers of the truth, led him to more abstract and metaphysical
reasonings. The manuscript being entrusted to my care, I have not presumed to
make any change in the sentiments or composition. I have, however, taken the
liberty to reduce it from the form of sermons, which it originally bore, to that
of a continued treatise. And I have so altered and diversified the marks of the
several divisions and subdivisions, that each class of heads might be easily
distinguished.
JOHN ERSKINE.
New Haven, Feb. 25, 1773.
— GENERAL INTRODUCTION —
THE design of this chapter is to
comfort the church under her sufferings, and the persecutions of her enemies.
The argument of consolation insisted on is, the constancy and perpetuity of
God’s mercy and faithfulness towards her, which shall be manifest in continuing
to work salvation for her, protecting her against all assaults of her enemies,
and carrying her safely through all the changes of the world, and finally
crowning her with victory and deliverance.
In the text, this happiness of the church of God is set
forth by comparing it with the contrary fate of her enemies that oppress her.
And therein we may observe,
1. How short lived the power and prosperity of the
church’s enemies is, “The moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm
shall eat them like wool,” i.e. however great their prosperity is, and however
great their present glory. They shall by degrees consume and vanish away a
secret curse of God, until they come to nothing. All their power and glory, and
so their persecutions, shall eternally cease. They will be finally and
irrecoverably ruined, as the finest and most glorious apparel will in time wear
away, and be consumed by moths and rottenness. We learn who those are that shall
thus consume away, by the foregoing verse, viz. those that are the enemies of
God’s people, “Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose
heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their
revilings.”
2. The contrary happy lot and portion of God’s church,
expressed in these words, “My righteousness shalt be for ever, and my salvation
from generation to generation.” Who are meant as those that shall have the
benefit of this, we also learn by the preceding verse, viz. They “that know
righteousness,” and “the people in whose heart is God’s law,” or, in one word,
the church of God. And concerning this happiness of theirs here spoken of, we
may observe two things, viz. 1. Wherein it consists. 2. Its continuance.
(1.) Wherein it consists, viz. In God’s righteousness
and salvation towards them. By God’s righteousness here, is meant his
faithfulness in fulfilling his covenant promises to his church, or his
faithfulness towards his church and people in bestowing the benefits of the
covenant of grace upon them. These benefits, though they are bestowed of free
and sovereign grace, are altogether undeserved. Yet as God has been pleased, by
the promises of the covenant of grace, to bind himself to bestow them, so they
are bestowed in the exercise of God’s righteousness or justice. And therefore
the Apostle says, Heb. 6:10, “God is not unrighteous, to forget your work and
labor of love.” And so, 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So the
word righteousness, is very often used in Scripture for God’s covenant
faithfulness. So it is used in Neh. 9:8, “Thou hast performed thy words, for
thou art righteous.” So we are often to understand righteousness and covenant
mercy for the same thing, as Psa. 24:5, “He shall receive the blessing from the
Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” Psa. 36:10, “Continue
thy loving kindness to them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright
in heart.” And Psa. 51:14, “Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of
my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.” Dan. 9:16,
“O Lord, according to thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy
fury be turned away.” — And so in innumerable other places.
The other word here used is salvation. Of these
two God’s righteousness and his salvation, the one is the cause, of which the
other is the effect. God’s righteousness, or covenant mercy, is the root of
which his salvation is the fruit. Both of them relate to the covenant of grace.
The one is God’s covenant mercy and faithfulness, the other intends that work of
God by which this covenant mercy is accomplished in the fruits of it. For
salvation is the sum of all those works of God by which the benefits that are by
the covenant of grace are procured and bestowed.
2. We may observe its continuance, signified here by two
expressions, forever, and from generation to generation. The
latter seems to be explanatory of the former. The phrase forever, is
variously used in Scripture. Sometimes thereby is meant as long as a man lives.
So it is said, the servant that has his ear bored through with an awl to the
door of his master, should be his forever. Sometimes thereby is meant
during the continuance of the Jewish state. So of many of the ceremonial and
Levitical laws it is said, that they should be statutes forever.
Sometimes it means as long as the world shall stand, or to the end of the
generations of men. So it is said, Ecc. 1:4, “One generation passeth away, and
another cometh; but the earth abideth for ever.” Sometimes thereby is meant to
all eternity. So it is said, “God is blessed for ever,” Rom. 1:25. And so it is
said, John 6:51, “If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.” — And
which of these senses is here to be understood, the next words determine, viz.
to the end of the world, or to the end of the generations of men. It is said in
the next words, “and my salvation from generation to generation.” Indeed
the fruits of God’s salvation shall remain after the end of the world, as
appears by the 6th verse, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the
earth beneath: For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall
wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner,
but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.”
But the work of salvation itself toward the church shall continue to be wrought
until then, until the end of the world God will go on to accomplish deliverance
and salvation for the church, from all her enemies. For that is what the prophet
is here speaking of, until the end of the world, until her enemies cease to be,
as to any power to molest the church. And this expression, “from generation to
generation,” may determine us as to the time which God continues to carry on the
work of salvation for his church, both with respect to the beginning and end. It
is from generation to generation, i.e. throughout all generations, beginning
with the generations of men on the earth, and not ending until these generations
end, at the end of the world. And therefore we deduce from these words
this.
— DOCTRINE —
THE WORK OF REDEMPTION IS A WORK THAT
GOD CARRIES ON FROM THE FALL OF MAN TO THE END OF THE WORLD
THE generations of mankind on the
earth did not begin until after the fall. The beginning of the posterity of our
first parents was after the fall. For all their posterity, by ordinary
generation, are partakers of the fall, and of the corruption of nature that
followed from it. These generations, by which the human race is propagated,
shall continue to the end of the world. So these two are the limits of the
generations of men on the earth, the fall of man the beginning, and the end of
the world, or the day of judgment, the end. The same are the limits of the work
of redemption as to those progressive works of God, by which that redemption is
brought about and accomplished, though not as to the fruits of it. For they, as
was said before, shall be to all eternity.
The work of redemption and the work of salvation are the
same thing. What is sometimes in Scripture called God’s saving his people, is in
other places called his redeeming them. So Christ is called both the Savior and
the Redeemer of his people.
Before entering on the proposed History of the Work of
Redemption, I would
1. Explain the terms made use of in the doctrine, —
and,
2. Show what those things are that are designed to he
accomplished by this great work of God.
First, I would show in what sense the terms of the
doctrine are used. — And, 1. I would show how I would be understood when I use
the word redemption, — and, 2. How I would be understood when I say, this
work is a work of God carried on from the fall of man to the end of the
world.
I. I would show how I would be understood when I use the
word redemption. — And here it may be observed, that the work of
redemption is sometimes understood in a more limited sense, for the purchase of
salvation. For so the word strictly signifies, a purchase of deliverance. If we
take the word in this restrained sense, the work of redemption was not so long
in doing. But it was begun and finished with Christ’s humiliation. It was all
wrought while Christ was upon earth. It was begun with Christ’s incarnation, and
carried on through Christ’s life, and finished with his death, or the time of
his remaining under the power of death, which ended in his resurrection. And so
we say, that the day of Christ’s resurrection is the day when Christ finished
the work of redemption, i.e. then the purchase was finished, and the work
itself, and all that appertained to it, was virtually done and finished,
but not actually.
But then sometimes the work of redemption is taken more
largely, including all that God works or accomplishes tending to this end, not
only the purchasing of redemption, but also all God’s works that were properly
preparatory to the purchase, or as applying the purchase and accomplishing the
success of it. So the whole dispensation, as it includes the preparation and the
purchase, and the application and success of Christ’s redemption, is here called
the work of redemption. All that Christ does in this great affair as mediator,
in any of his offices, either of prophet, priest, or king, either when he was in
this world, in his human nature, or before, or since, and not only what Christ
the mediator has done, but also what the Father, or the Holy Ghost, has done, as
united or confederated in this design of redeeming sinful men. Or, in one word,
all that is wrought in the execution of the eternal covenant of redemption, this
is what I call the work of redemption in the doctrine. For it is all but one
work, one design. The various dispensations or works that belong to it, are but
the several parts of one scheme. It is but one design that is formed, to which
all the offices of Christ do directly tend, and in which all the persons of the
Trinity do conspire, and all the various dispensations that belong to it are
united. The several wheels are one machine, to answer one end, and produce one
effect.
II. When I say, this work is carried on from the fall of
man to the end of the world, in order to the full understanding of my meaning in
it, I would desire two or three things to be observed.
1. That it is not meant, that nothing was done in order
to it before the fall of man. There were many things done in order to this work
of redemption before that. Some things were done before the world was created,
yea from all eternity. The persons of the Trinity were as it were confederated
in a design and a covenant of redemption, in which covenant the Father had
appointed the Son, and the Son had undertaken the work. And all things to be
accomplished in the work were stipulated and agreed. And besides these, there
were things done at the creation of the world, in order to that work, before man
fell. For the world itself seems to have been created in order to it. The work
of creation was in order to God’s works of providence. So that if it be
inquired, Which of these kinds of works are the greatest, the works of creation
or the works of providence? I answer, the works of providence, because God’s
works of providence are the end of his works of creation, as the building an
house, or the forming an engine or machine, is for its use. But God’s main work
of providence is this great work of God that the doctrine speaks of, as may more
fully appear hereafter.
The creation of heaven was in order to the work of
redemption. It was to be an habitation for the redeemed, Mat. 25:34, “Then shall
the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Even the angels
were created to be employed in this work. And therefore the apostle calls them,
“ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation,” Heb. 1:14. As to this lower world, it was doubtless created to be a
stage upon which this great and wonderful work of redemption should be
transacted. Therefore, as might be shown, in many respects this lower world is
wisely fitted, in the formation, for such a state of man as he is in since the
fall, under a possibility of redemption. So when it is said that the work of
redemption is carried on from the fall of man to the end of the world, it is not
meant, that all that ever was done in order to redemption has been done since
the fall. Nor,
2. Is it meant that there will be no remaining fruits of
this wok after the end of the world. The greatest fruits of all will be after
that. That glory and blessedness that will be the sum of all the fruits, will
remain to all the saints after that. The work of redemption is not an eternal
work, i.e. it is not a work always a doing and never accomplished. But the
fruits of this work are eternal fruits. The work has an issue. But in the issue
the end will be obtained, which end will never have an end. As those things that
were in order to this work before the beginning of the world, as God’s electing
love, and the covenant of redemption, never had a beginning. So the fruits of
this work, that shall be after the end of the world, never will have an end. And
therefore,
3. When it is said in the doctrine, that this is a work
that God is carrying on from the fall of man to the end of the world, what I
mean is, that those things that belong to this work itself, and are parts of
this scheme, are all this while accomplishing. There are things that are in
order to it that are before the beginning of it, an d fruits of it that are
after it is finished. But the work itself is so long a doing, even from the fall
of man to the end of the world. It is all this while a carrying on. It was begun
immediately upon the fall, and will continue to the end of the world, and then
will be finished. The various dispensations of God that are in this space, do
belong to the same work, and to the same design, and have all one issue, and
therefore are all to he reckoned but as several parts of one work, as it were
several successive motions of one machine, to bring about in the conclusion one
great event.
And here also we must distinguish between the parts of
redemption itself, and the parts of the work by which that redemption is wrought
out. There is a difference between the parts of the benefits procured and
bestowed, and the parts of the work of God by which those benefits were procured
and bestowed. As, for example, there is a difference between the parts of the
benefit that the children of Israel received, consisting in their redemption out
of Egypt, and the parts of that work of God by which this was wrought. The
redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt, considered as the benefit
which they enjoyed, consisted of two parts, viz., their deliverance from their
former Egyptian bondage and misery, and their being brought into a more happy
state, as the servants of God, and heirs of Canaan. But there are many more
things which are parts of that work of God which is called his work of
redemption of Israel out of Egypt. To this belongs his calling of Moses, his
sending him to Pharaoh, and all the signs and wonders he wrought in Egypt, and
his bringing such terrible judgments on the Egyptians, and many other
things.
It is this work by which God effects redemption that we
are speaking of. This work is carried on from the fall of man to the end of the
world. And it is so in two respects.
(1) With respect to the effect wrought on the souls of
the redeemed, which is common to all ages from the fall of man to the end of the
world. This effect that I here speak of, is the application of redemption with
respect to the souls of particular persons, in converting, justifying,
sanctifying and glorifying of them. By these things the souls of particular
persons are actually redeemed, and do receive the benefit of the work of
redemption in its effect in their souls. And in this sense the work of
redemption is carried on in all ages of the world, from the fall of man to the
end of the world. The work of God in converting souls, opening blind eyes,
unstopping deaf ears, raising dead souls to life, and rescuing the miserable
captivated souls out of the hands or Satan, was begun soon after the fall of
man, has been carried on in the world ever since to this day, and will be to the
end of the world. God has always, ever since the first erecting of the church of
the redeemed after the fall, had such a church in the world. Though oftentimes
it has been reduced to a very narrow compass and to low circumstances. Yet it
has never wholly failed.
And as God carries on the work of converting the souls
of fallen men through all these ages, so he goes on to justify them, to blot out
all their sins, and to accept them as righteous in his sight, through the
righteousness of Christ, and adopt and receive them from being the children of
Satan, to be his own children. So also he goes on to sanctify or to carry on the
work of his grace, which he has begun in them, and to comfort them with the
consolations of his Spirit, and to glorify them, to bestow upon them, when their
bodies die, that eternal glory which is the fruit of the purchase of Christ.
What is said, Rom. 8:30, “Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and
whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also
glorified.” I say this is applicable to all ages, from the fall, to the end of
the world.
The way that the work of redemption, with respect to
these effects of it on the souls of the redeemed, is carried on from the fall to
the end of the world, is by repeating and continually working the same work over
again, though in different persons, from age to age. But,
(2) The work of redemption with respect to the grand
design in general, as it respects the universal subject and end, is carried on
from the fall of man to the end of the world in a different manner, not merely
by repeating or renewing the same effect in the different subjects of it, but by
many successive works and dispensations of God, all tending to one great end and
effect, all united as the several parts of a scheme, and all together making up
one great work. Like a house or temple that is being built. First, the workmen
are sent forth, then the materials are gathered, then the ground fitted, then
the foundation is laid, then the superstructure is erected, one part after
another, until at length the top stone is laid, and all is finished. Now the
work of redemption in that large sense that has been explained, may be compared
to such a building, that is carrying on from the fall of man to the end of the
world. God went about it immediately after the fall of man. Some things were
done towards it immediately, as may be shown hereafter. God has proceeded, as it
were, getting materials and building, ever since. And so will proceed to the end
of the world. Then the time will come when the top stone shall be brought forth,
and all will appear complete and consummate. The glorious structure will then
stand forth in its proper perfection.
This work is carried on in the former respect that has
been mentioned, viz. , as to the effect on the souls of particular persons that
are redeemed, by its being an effect that is common to all ages. The work is
carried on in this latter respect, viz. , as it respects the church of God, and
the grand design in general. It is carried on, not only by that which is common
to all ages, but by successive works wrought in different ages, all parts of one
whole, or one great scheme. One work is brought about by various steps, one step
in one age, and another in another. It is this carrying on of the work of
redemption that I shall chiefly insist upon, though not excluding the former.
For one necessarily supposes the other.
Having thus explained what I mean by the terms of the
doctrine, that you may the more clearly see how the great design and work of
redemption is carried on from the fall of man to the end of the world, I say, in
order to this,
I now proceed, in the second place, to show what is the
design of this great work, or what things are designed to be done by it. In
order to see how a design is carried on, we must first know what the design is.
To know how a workman proceeds, and to understand the various steps he takes in
order to accomplish a I piece of work, we need to be informed what he is about,
or what the thing is that he intends to accomplish. Otherwise we may stand by,
and see him do one thing after another, and be quite puzzled and in the dark,
seeing nothing of his scheme, and understanding nothing of what he means by it.
If an architect, with a great number of hands, were a building some great
palace, and one that was a stranger to such things should stand by, and see some
men digging in the earth, others bringing timber, others hewing stones, and the
like, he might see that there was a great deal done. But if he knew not the
design, it would all appear to him confusion. And therefore, that the great
works and dispensations of God that belong to this great affair of redemption
may not appear like confusion to you, I would set before you briefly the main
things designed to be accomplished in this great work, to accomplish which God
began to work presently after the fall of man, and will continue working to the
end of the world, when the whole work will appear completely finished. And the
main things designed to be done by it are these that follow.
I. It is to put all God’s enemies under his feet, and
that the goodness of God should finally appear triumphing over all evil. Soon
after the world was created, evil entered into the world in the fall of the
angels and man. Presently after God had made rational creatures, there were
enemies who rose up against him from among them. In the fall of man evil entered
into this lower world, and God’s enemies rose up against him here. Satan rose up
against God, endeavoring to frustrate his design in the creation of this lower
world, to destroy his workmanship here, and to wrest the government of this
lower world out of his hands, and usurp the throne himself, and set up himself
as god of this world instead of the God that made it. And to these ends he
introduced sin into the world. Having made man God’s enemy, he brought guilt on
man, and brought death and the most extreme and dreadful misery into the
world.
Now one great design of God in the affair of redemption
was, to reduce and subdue those enemies of God, until they should all be put
under God’s feet,1 Cor. 15:25, “He must reign until he hath put all enemies
under his feet.” Things were originally so planned and designed, that he might
disappoint and confound, and triumph over Satan, and that he might be bruised
under Christ’s feet, Gen. 3:15. The promise was given, that the seed of the
woman should bruise the serpent’s head. It was a part of God’s original design
in this work, to destroy the works of the devil, and confound him in all his
purposes, 1 John 3:8, “For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil.” It was a part of his design, to triumph
over sin, and over the corruptions of men, and to root them out of the hearts of
his people, by conforming them to himself. He designed also, that his grace
should triumph over man’s guilt, and that infinite demerit that there is in sin.
Again, it was a part of his design, to triumph over death. This is the last
enemy that shall be destroyed, yet that shall finally be vanquished and
destroyed.
God thus appears gloriously above all evil, and
triumphing over all his enemies, was one great thing that God intended by the
work of redemption, and the work by which this was to be done, God immediately
went about as soon as man fell, and so goes on until he fully accomplishes it in
the end of the world.
II. In doing this, God’s design was perfectly to restore
all the ruins of the fall, so far as concerns the elect part of the world, by
his Son. Therefore we read of the “restitution of all things,” Acts 3:21, “Whom
the heaven must receive, until the times of the restitution of all things,” and
of the “times of refreshing” from the presence of the Lord Jesus, Acts 3:19,
“Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when
the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”
Man’s soul was ruined by the fall. The image of God was
ruined. Man’s nature was corrupted and destroyed, and man became dead in sin.
The design of God was, to restore the soul of man, to restore life to it, and
the image of God, in conversion, and to carry on the restoration in
sanctification, and to perfect it in glory. Man’s body was ruined, by the fall
it became subject to death. The design of God was, to restore it from this ruin,
and not only to deliver it from death in the resurrection, but to deliver it
from mortality itself, in making it like unto Christ’s glorious body. The world
was ruined, as to man, as effectually as if it had been reduced to chaos again.
All heaven and earth were overthrown. But the design of God was, to restore all,
and as it were to create a new heaven and a new earth, Isa. 65:17, “Behold, I
create new heavens, and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor
come into mind.” 2 Pet. 3:13, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look
for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
The work by which this was to be done, was begun
immediately after the fall, and so is carried on until all is finished at the
end, when the whole world, heaven and earth, shall be restored. There shall be,
as it were, new heavens, and a new earth, in a spiritual sense, at the end of
the world. Thus it is represented, Rev. 21:1, “And I saw a new heaven, and a new
earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.”
III. Another great design of God in the work off
redemption, was to gather together in one all things in Christ, in heaven and in
earth, i.e. all elect creatures, to bring all elect creatures, in heaven and in
earth, to an union one to another in one body, under one head, and to unite all
together in one body to God the Father. This was begun soon after the fall, and
is carried on through all ages of the world, and finished at the end of the
world.
IV. God designed by this work to perfect and complete
the glory of all the elect by Christ. It was a design of God to advance the
elect to an exceeding pitch of glory, “such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
nor has ever entered into the heart of man” He intended to bring them to perfect
excellency and beauty in his image, and in holiness, which is the proper beauty
of spiritual beings, and to advance them to a glorious degree of honor, and also
to an ineffable pitch of pleasure and joy, and thus to glorify the whole church
of elect men in soul and body, and with them to bring the glory of the elect
angels to its highest pitch under one head. The work which tends to this, God
began immediately after the fall, and carries on through all ages, and will have
perfected at the end of the world.
V. In all this God designed to accomplish the glory of
the blessed Trinity in an exceeding degree. God had a design of glorifying
himself from eternity, to glorify each person in the Godhead. The end must be
considered as first in the order of nature, and then the means. Therefore we
must conceive, that God having professed this end, had then as it were the means
to choose. And the principal mean that he pitched upon was this great work of
redemption that we are speaking of. It was his design in this work to glorify
his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And it was his design, by the Son to
glorify the Father, John 13:31, 32, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is
glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in
himself, and shall straightway glorify him.” It was his design that the Son
should thus be glorified, and should glorify the Father by what should be
accomplished by the Spirit to the glory of the Spirit, that the whole Trinity,
conjunctly, and each person singly, might be exceedingly glorified. The work
that was the appointed means of this, was begun immediately after the fall, and
is carried on until, and finished at, the end of the world, when all this
intended glory shall be fully accomplished in all things.
Having thus explained the terms made use of in the
doctrine, and shown what the things are which are to be accomplished by this
great work of God, I proceed now to the proposed History, that is, to show how
what was designed by the work of redemption has been accomplished, in the
various steps of this work, from the fall of man to the end of the world.
In order to this, I would divide this whole space of
time into three periods.
1st, Reaching from the fall of man to the incarnation of
Christ.
2nd, From Christ’s incarnation until his resurrection,
or the whole time of Christ’s humiliation.
3rd, From thence to the end of the world.
It may be some may be ready to think this a very unequal
division. And it is so indeed in some respects. It is so, because the second
period is so much the greatest. For although it be so much shorter than either
of the other, being but between thirty and forty years, whereas both the other
contain thousands. Yet in this affair that we are now upon, it is more than both
the others. —
I would therefore proceed to show distinctly how the
work of redemption is carried on from the fall of man to the end of the world,
through each of these periods in their order, which I would do under three
propositions, one concerning each period.
I. That from the fall of man until the incarnation of
Christ, God was doing those things that were preparatory to Christ’s coming and
working out redemption, and were forerunners and earnests of it.
II. That the time from Christ’s incarnation, until his
resurrection, was spent in procuring and purchasing redemption.
III. That the space of time from the resurrection of
Christ to the end of the world, is all taken up in bringing about or
accomplishing the great effect or success off that purchase.
[ Thanks to: Jonathan-Edwards.org ]