Excellency of Christ
“There are people who love those who agree with them and admire them, but have no time for those who oppose and dislike them. A Christian’s love must be universal!”
— Jonathan Edwards
If love is so great a thing in Christianity, so essential and distinguishing, yea, the very sum of all Christian virtue, then surely those that profess themselves Christians should live in love, and abound in the works of love, for no works are so becoming as those of love. If you call yourself a Christian, where are your works of love? Have you abounded, and do you abound in them? If this divine and holy principle is in you, and reigns in you, will it not appear in your life in works of love? Consider, what deeds of love have you done, Do you love God? What have you done for him, for his glory, for the advancement of his kingdom in the world! And how much have you denied yourself to promote the Redeemer’s interest among men ? Do you love your fellowmen ? What have you done for them? Consider your former defects in these respects, and how becoming it is in you, as a Christian, hereafter to abound more in deeds of love. Do not make excuse that you have not opportunities to do anything for the glory of God, for the interest of the Redeemer’s kingdom, and for the spiritual benefit of your neighbours. If your heart is full of love, it will find vent; you will find or make ways enough to express your love in deeds. When a fountain abounds in water, it will send forth streams. Consider that as a principle of love is the main principle in the heart of a real Christian, so the labour of love is the main business of the Christian life. Let every Christian consider these things; and may the Lord give you understanding in all things, and make you sensible what spirit it becomes you to be of, and dispose you to such an excellent, amiable, and benevolent life, as is answerable to such a spirit, that you may not love only " in word and tongue, but in deed and in truth." ~~ Jonathan Edwards
http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/charity1.htm
“Heaven is a world of love” by Jonathan Edwards
“The God of love dwells in heaven. Heaven is the palace, or presence-chamber, of the Supreme Being who is both the cause and source of all holy love.
God, indeed, with respect to His essence is everywhere. He fills heaven and earth. But yet He is said on some accounts more especially to be in some places rather than others.
He was said of old to dwell in the land of Israel above all other lands, and in Jerusalem above all other cities in that land, and in the temple above all other houses in that city, and in the holy of holies above all other apartments in that temple, and on the mercy seat over the ark above all other places in the holy of holies.
But heaven is His dwelling place above all other places in the universe.
Those places in which He was said to dwell of old were all but types of this. Heaven is a part of the creation which God has built for this end, to be the place of His glorious presence.
And it is His abode forever. Here He will dwell and gloriously manifest Himself to eternity.
And this renders heaven a world of love; for God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light.
And therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven fills heaven with love, as the sun placed in the midst of the hemisphere in a clear day fills the world with light.
The Apostle tells us that God is love, 1 John 4:8. And therefore seeing He is an infinite Being, it follows that He is an infinite fountain of love.
Seeing He is an all-sufficient Being, it follows that He is a full and overflowing and an inexhaustible fountain of love.
Seeing He is an unchangeable and eternal Being, He is an unchangeable and eternal source of love.
There even in heaven dwells that God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is or ever was proceeds.
There dwells God the Father, and so the Son, who are united in infinitely dear and incomprehensible mutual love.
There dwells God the Father, who is the Father of mercies, and so the Father of love, who so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life [John 3:16].
There dwells Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the Prince of peace and love, who so loved the world that He shed His blood, and poured out His soul unto death for it.
There dwells the Mediator, by whom all God’s love is expressed to the saints, by whom the fruits of it have been purchased, and through whom they are communicated, and through whom love is imparted to the hearts of all the church.
There Christ dwells in both His natures, His human and divine, sitting with the Father in the same throne.
There is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of divine love, in whom the very essence of God, as it were, all flows out or is breathed forth in love, and by whose immediate influence all holy love is shed abroad in the hearts of all the church [cf. Romans 5:5].
There in heaven this fountain of love, this eternal three in one, is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it.
There this glorious God is manifested and shines forth in full glory, in beams of love.
There the fountain overflows in streams and rivers of love and delight, enough for all to drink at, and to swim in, yea, so as to overflow the world as it were with a deluge of love.”
–Jonathan Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits , in Ethical Writings, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 8 , Ed. Paul Ramsey (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1749/1989), 369-370.
1 Like
Though I’m no fan of Jonathan Edwards, I fully agree with his words that you quoted above!
How could you forget his most famous sermon!
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
“Fear need not, of course, always express itself in the form of physical brutality against others. So far as I know, Jonathan Edwards never advocated the persecution of either heretics or unbelievers, but he nonetheless remains one of the great apostles of fear. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” perhaps the most famous sermon ever delivered in America, Edwards evoked such fear in the congregation he addressed that some, unable to endure it, were reported to have actually passed out in church. Here is but a sample of what he said: "The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours."46
Clearly, Edwards needed no sword to sow the seeds of terror. Why he believed that God would look upon a human being, created in the divine image, as “worthy of nothing else” but everlasting torment, or why he supposed that human beings, however sinful, are “more abominable” in the eyes of God than a disobedient child is in the eyes of a loving parent, the above quotation does not explain.”
Excerpt From: Thomas Talbott. “The Inescapable Love of God.”
Most of the sermon’s text consists of ten “considerations”:
- God may cast wicked men into hell at any given moment.
- The wicked deserve to be cast into hell. Divine justice does not prevent God from destroying the Wicked at any moment.
- The wicked, at this moment, suffer under God’s condemnation to Hell.
- The wicked, on earth—at this very moment—suffer a sample of the torments of Hell. The wicked must not think, simply because they are not physically in Hell, that God (in Whose hand the wicked now reside) is not—at this very moment—as angry with them as He is with those miserable creatures He is now tormenting in hell, and who—at this very moment—do feel and bear the fierceness of His wrath.
- At any moment God shall permit him, Satan stands ready to fall upon the wicked and seize them as his own.
- If it were not for God’s restraints, there are, in the souls of wicked men, hellish principles reigning which, presently, would kindle and flame out into hellfire.
- Simply because there are not visible means of death before them at any given moment, the wicked should not feel secure.
- Simply because it is natural to care for oneself or to think that others may care for them, men should not think themselves safe from God’s wrath.
- All that wicked men may do to save themselves from Hell’s pains shall afford them nothing if they continue to reject Christ.
- God has never promised to save us from Hell, except for those contained in Christ through the covenant of Grace.
The reprobate whom God hates is screwed! God only loves the elect. 
Hilarious! Edwards believed in and taught unconditional election, with the reprobates tormented forever by Gods hate. Too bad he did not believe God’s love must be universal!
Here’s one that explicitly shows how a proper despising of self leads to repentance. It’s in Job 42. It’s after God questions Job.
Then Job replied to the Lord:
“I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
> Therefore I despise myself
> and repent in dust and ashes.
A holy hatred leads to repentance. God is holy love. If God is holy love then He must hate evil. Those in hell will eventually repent.
Edwards did not believe in that.
With all due respect I don’t know why anyone who believes in UR or a truly loving God would quote Augustinians (Calvin, Edwards, Piper, etc.) who believe and still teach God only loves some and hates others. That He gets pleasure sending the reprobate to hell with eternal torment and the reprobate did nothing to cause this. Not even a free choice decision. Their god does not want everyone saved. Calvin and team would have killed you and I and labeled us heretics, like they did others during their day (Miguel Servetus, tried to kill Jerome Bolsec). They viewed religious heretics worse than murders. Not to even mention the Stoic, Gnostic, and Manichaean themes found in Calvin’s/Augustine’s god. Augustine was a Manichaean for a decade before he converted, then reverted back fighting the Pelagians re: infant baptisms. Of which he also stated those infants which die prior to being baptized went straight to conscious torment in hell, and God not only did this but enjoyed it!
Manichaean god - founded by Iranian “prophet” Mani
“In this pagan group, a non-relational God unilaterally chose the elect for salvation and the non-elect for damnation based upon his own desires.”
Sound familiar?
“The mockers who would suffer all false doctrines . . . are not only traitors to God but enemies of the human race. They would bring poor souls to perdition and ruin, and are worse than murderers.” - Calvin
One may as well post “jewels” from Mohammad. Both have done the same thing for religion.
2 Likes
We know all of that. And I’ve quoted in this thread (I think twice) the passage you quoted from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Notwithstanding, even a man such as Edwards who was so wrong about God sometimes does make true comments as well.
1 Like