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The Blessing of God: Previously Unpublished Sermons of Jonathan Edwards
Famed Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards is forever known for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” though that is only one of hundreds of sermons of great merit. Michael McMullen has compiled a collection of twenty-two sermons preached by Edwards that have never before appeared in print. They are taken from a collection of Edwards papers held at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University and have been transcribed as a labor of love to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Edwards’ birth.
- GenresTheology
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
24 people want to read
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March 6, 2017
Pretty solid. Good theology. Amazing how much Edwards can pull out of one or two verses. That being said, this collection of sermons did not move me as much as The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader, edited by Kimnach, Minkema, and Sweeney. But that is probably more a reflection on me and my stage of life at the time as opposed to the books themselves.
Below are some of Edwards' points in his sermon on Romans 5:7-8, followed by three quotations from his sermon on Revelation 3:20:
Jonathan Edwards: The Dying Love of Christ
Rom 5:7-8
Doctrine: There never was any love that could be as the dying love of Christ.
1. Never was there love that fixed upon an object so much below the lover.
2. Never was there any instance of such love to those who were so far from being capable of benefiting the lover.
3. Never was there any who set his love upon those in whom he saw so much filthiness and deformity.
4. Never was there anyone who set his love upon those who were so far from loving him and so unreasonably averse to him as Jesus Christ in his dying love to sinners.
5. There never was any love that appeared in so great and wonderful expressions.
6. Never was there any love that was so beneficial to the beloved.
"He stands at your door day and night, telling of you, “Go,” and urging you to open the door that he may come in and sup…. [H]e stands there yet. What can be more reasonable than such an offer as this, that because you have provoked God and deserved hell, yet you may have a Savior and may have all his benefits if you can but find it in your heart to be willing that this Savior shall be yours? How justly that you may be left to perish, seeing that you won’t give your consent to this. You won’t have eternal life when offered. When life and death are set before you, you choose death…" (374-5)
"Man is a creature who cannot be happy but in union and friendship. If he alone is united to none as his friend, he is desolate. Now when shall we ever have a better offer? When shall we have the offer of a more glorious friendship to be united to a more excellent person than the Son of God? A life of love to Christ and communion with Christ is the most happy life of all." (384)
"‘Tis not as a bargain that man makes one with another whereby they give one thing in exchange for another. The thing that they give they part with . They part with the benefit of it for the benefit of the thing they exchange it for. But in this transaction with Christ, the thing that you give you gain by giving, and you also gain the thing that you receive. You gain both by the bargain." (390)
Below are some of Edwards' points in his sermon on Romans 5:7-8, followed by three quotations from his sermon on Revelation 3:20:
Jonathan Edwards: The Dying Love of Christ
Rom 5:7-8
Doctrine: There never was any love that could be as the dying love of Christ.
1. Never was there love that fixed upon an object so much below the lover.
2. Never was there any instance of such love to those who were so far from being capable of benefiting the lover.
3. Never was there any who set his love upon those in whom he saw so much filthiness and deformity.
4. Never was there anyone who set his love upon those who were so far from loving him and so unreasonably averse to him as Jesus Christ in his dying love to sinners.
5. There never was any love that appeared in so great and wonderful expressions.
6. Never was there any love that was so beneficial to the beloved.
"He stands at your door day and night, telling of you, “Go,” and urging you to open the door that he may come in and sup…. [H]e stands there yet. What can be more reasonable than such an offer as this, that because you have provoked God and deserved hell, yet you may have a Savior and may have all his benefits if you can but find it in your heart to be willing that this Savior shall be yours? How justly that you may be left to perish, seeing that you won’t give your consent to this. You won’t have eternal life when offered. When life and death are set before you, you choose death…" (374-5)
"Man is a creature who cannot be happy but in union and friendship. If he alone is united to none as his friend, he is desolate. Now when shall we ever have a better offer? When shall we have the offer of a more glorious friendship to be united to a more excellent person than the Son of God? A life of love to Christ and communion with Christ is the most happy life of all." (384)
"‘Tis not as a bargain that man makes one with another whereby they give one thing in exchange for another. The thing that they give they part with . They part with the benefit of it for the benefit of the thing they exchange it for. But in this transaction with Christ, the thing that you give you gain by giving, and you also gain the thing that you receive. You gain both by the bargain." (390)
June 19, 2020
The sermons of Edwards are consistently a blessing. The manner in which he unfolds doctrine and applies those truths to those who believe and the unregenerate are pointed even for today. The applications are the same today in many cases because human nature is still in desperate need of Jesus.
August 10, 2014
Jonathan Edwards is arguably one of the greatest preachers of the last two centuries. While perhaps most famous for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, he was not just a preacher focused on declaring the proverbial hellfire and brimstone type approach to preaching. Dr. Michael McMullen, in his book The Blessing of God: Previously Unpublished Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, has compiled a series of twenty-two sermons by Jonathan Edwards taken from the archives of the Edwards Papers, a collection of sermons and writings of Edwards located in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.
For those who might be unfamiliar with Jonathan Edwards or who perhaps have not read many of his sermons, McMullen provides a helpful summary of each sermon at the beginning of each chapter in this book. I found each summary to be spot on, giving me valuable insight into the overall thrust of that particular sermon. Additionally, McMullen shares some interesting anecdotes regarding each sermon. For instance, in relation to Edwards’ sermon “The Way to Obtain the Blessing of God”, McMullen shares “The sermon manuscript is a typical duedecimal booklet, consisting of twenty leaves with little or no evidence of damage. In the body of the sermon, there is some evidence of deletions, additions, and corrections in Edwards’ own hand, but nothing on the scale of a major rework of the sermon as a whole.” Such commentary provides some insight into Edwards’ sermon preparation as well as how these sermons and manuscripts have been kept over the years.
What can be said about the sermons in this volume? For starters, they are all outstanding and I for one am thankful these sermons have been released for reading and contemplation. Edwards was a skilled preacher, able to share the message placed on his heart by God with great zeal. The style of his sermon preparation and delivery follows the pattern of the great Puritan authors and preachers in that Edwards gives the reader (or hearer in his case) the doctrine of what he is speaking about immediately followed by the all important element of application.
A fine example of this doctrinal application approach can be found in the sermon “What is Meant by Believing in Christ?”. In this powerful sermon, Edwards first establishes what it means to believe in Christ followed by how this belief is the only way to salvation. He rightly notes that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” is actually a follower of Christ. Conversely, “They who truly believe in Christ, they know Christ. God opens their eyes to see how great and how glorious he is and how good and how lovely he is.” This statement demonstrates the vast difference between knowing God and knowing God in the all important relational way. Relationship is the true aspect of what it means to believe in and to know God and Edwards saliently outlines what that looks like in practice in the application portion of this sermon where he asks a series of important questions we all must continually ponder. Edwards reminds the reader “Don’t think it enough that you come to meeting, that you are honest, that you keep the Sabbath days, that you don’t get drunk. You must do these things, must keep the Sabbath, but these things alone won’t do. You must give your whole heart to Christ.”
It is this style of preaching sound doctrine followed by the necessity of application that is at times missing from the pulpit today. I highly encourage all believers to read these outstanding sermons by a man truly gifted by God to declare the Word. Furthermore, I recommend this volume to pastors as a means to improve their own sermon delivery. We certainly do not want a collection of “Edwards clones” who try to simply copy Edwards’ style; however, the methodology used by Edwards is indeed valuable for those who grace the pulpit in that he had a definite gift of being able to take a passage and to relay to his parishioners what God was saying, why it was important, and how they could apply that message to their daily life. Since that is the role of the pastor, studying at the feet, or in this case from the writings of a pastor such as Jonathan Edwards is well worth the effort. This collection of sermons will go a long way for believers and pastors to better understand God’s Word and how the truth of Scripture can be reflected in our lives. I appreciate Dr. McMullen bringing these previously unpublished sermons to print as they are well worth reading and pondering.
I received this book for free from B&H Academic for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
For those who might be unfamiliar with Jonathan Edwards or who perhaps have not read many of his sermons, McMullen provides a helpful summary of each sermon at the beginning of each chapter in this book. I found each summary to be spot on, giving me valuable insight into the overall thrust of that particular sermon. Additionally, McMullen shares some interesting anecdotes regarding each sermon. For instance, in relation to Edwards’ sermon “The Way to Obtain the Blessing of God”, McMullen shares “The sermon manuscript is a typical duedecimal booklet, consisting of twenty leaves with little or no evidence of damage. In the body of the sermon, there is some evidence of deletions, additions, and corrections in Edwards’ own hand, but nothing on the scale of a major rework of the sermon as a whole.” Such commentary provides some insight into Edwards’ sermon preparation as well as how these sermons and manuscripts have been kept over the years.
What can be said about the sermons in this volume? For starters, they are all outstanding and I for one am thankful these sermons have been released for reading and contemplation. Edwards was a skilled preacher, able to share the message placed on his heart by God with great zeal. The style of his sermon preparation and delivery follows the pattern of the great Puritan authors and preachers in that Edwards gives the reader (or hearer in his case) the doctrine of what he is speaking about immediately followed by the all important element of application.
A fine example of this doctrinal application approach can be found in the sermon “What is Meant by Believing in Christ?”. In this powerful sermon, Edwards first establishes what it means to believe in Christ followed by how this belief is the only way to salvation. He rightly notes that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” is actually a follower of Christ. Conversely, “They who truly believe in Christ, they know Christ. God opens their eyes to see how great and how glorious he is and how good and how lovely he is.” This statement demonstrates the vast difference between knowing God and knowing God in the all important relational way. Relationship is the true aspect of what it means to believe in and to know God and Edwards saliently outlines what that looks like in practice in the application portion of this sermon where he asks a series of important questions we all must continually ponder. Edwards reminds the reader “Don’t think it enough that you come to meeting, that you are honest, that you keep the Sabbath days, that you don’t get drunk. You must do these things, must keep the Sabbath, but these things alone won’t do. You must give your whole heart to Christ.”
It is this style of preaching sound doctrine followed by the necessity of application that is at times missing from the pulpit today. I highly encourage all believers to read these outstanding sermons by a man truly gifted by God to declare the Word. Furthermore, I recommend this volume to pastors as a means to improve their own sermon delivery. We certainly do not want a collection of “Edwards clones” who try to simply copy Edwards’ style; however, the methodology used by Edwards is indeed valuable for those who grace the pulpit in that he had a definite gift of being able to take a passage and to relay to his parishioners what God was saying, why it was important, and how they could apply that message to their daily life. Since that is the role of the pastor, studying at the feet, or in this case from the writings of a pastor such as Jonathan Edwards is well worth the effort. This collection of sermons will go a long way for believers and pastors to better understand God’s Word and how the truth of Scripture can be reflected in our lives. I appreciate Dr. McMullen bringing these previously unpublished sermons to print as they are well worth reading and pondering.
I received this book for free from B&H Academic for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews