Jonathan Edwards Collection: Edwards, Jonathan - Rational Biblical Theology: Chapt 31 Sanctification

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Jonathan Edwards Collection: Edwards, Jonathan - Rational Biblical Theology: Chapt 31 Sanctification



TOPIC: Edwards, Jonathan - Rational Biblical Theology (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: Chapt 31 Sanctification

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Chapter XXXI

Sanctification



Puritanism, Edwards, and Sanctification

Of the twelve hundred plus sermons which Edwards wrote, I estimate that sanctification was the central and most emphasized theme. He is famous, of course, for the imprecatory sermons which were designed merely to awaken persons to consider the spiritual life, but the delineation of that life occupied Edwards far more.

Not only the sermons but lectures as well were preoccupied with this theme. Most famous are The Religious Affections, but the first published series on justification opposed both Antinomianism and Neonomianism in its insistence on a sound doctrine of sanctification as a corollary of justification. *1* A Faithful Narrative followed by Some Thoughts Concerning Revival pursued that theme determinedly. *2* What was the Humble Attempt but a call to a life of prayer? *3* One of the avowed principles in Freedom of the Will was to preserve the Reformed gospel of grace. *4* Not only the late Nature of True Virtue treats sanctification but even Concerning the End For Which God Created the World sees remanation or return to God, as the goal of all God’s redemptive activity. *5*

In emphasizing sanctification Edwards was in the mainstream of the Puritan tradition. Haller in Elizabethan Diaries has noted that Troeltsch and Weber exaggerated the place of theology among the Puritans, who were actually more activistic than theoretical. Indeed, Haller jumps to the erroneous conclusion that they were actually Arminian. Yet it is true that



Puritan sermons before the revolution were chiefly concerned with charting in infinite detail and tireless reiteration the course of the godly soul out of hardness and indifference to the consciousness of its lost condition, and so out of despair and repentance to faith in God, to active perseverance and confident expectation of victory and glory. *6*



Richard Sibbes’ The Bruised Reed was perhaps the most effective statement that any preacher accomplished of the “dynamic element in Puritan morality.” *7* Sibbes had written that “where true grace is, it groweth in measure and purity. Smoking flax will grow to a flame. . . .” *8* Jonathan Edwards maintains this rather standard Puritan emphasis, though typically developing the doctrine through his own penetrating biblical analysis.



The Necessity of Good Works

We have observed above that the faith that justifies, according to Edwards, is a faith that is seen by God as a continuing fruitful faith. In other words, the believer’s good works are absolutely necessary to justification, although they contribute nothing meritorious to it. Edwards is always careful in his preaching to explain in what sense works are necessary. One sermon has the doctrine: “We should be willing to engage in and go through great undertakings, in order to our own salvation.” *9* There is a work that must be accomplished before we receive salvation - ultimate salvation. Why is this work necessary? Edwards asks. He first affirms that it is not in order to merit salvation. “Men can’t [be] saved for any work of theirs, and yet they ben’t saved without works.” The second reason for these works is that “God for wise and holy ends has appointed that we should come to salvation in no other way” but that of good works done by us. This God has done, not that men may merit salvation, but that they may be prepared to receive it as a gift. In the sermon on Gal_5:6 we read that



there is no room left for any one to say that they have faith which justifies and that they need take no care about works and so to give themselves a liberty in sinning because they ben’t under the law but under grace; for tho’ ’tis only faith that justifies yet there is no faith that justifies but a working faith; so that it is as impossible that any person should be saved without works as if they were justified upon the account of their works. It is as impossible that men should be saved without an evangelical, universal and sincere obedience under the second covenant as it was that they should be saved without a perfect obedience under the first covenant. *10*



Obedience is as necessary now as it was under the old covenant of works, but not for the same reason. *11* In the old covenant life was to be obtained on the basis of works. This is not so in the new covenant. Nevertheless, in the new covenant works are required as the necessary evidence of the genuineness of the faith by which alone, men are justified, and are the bases on which Christ achieved salvation for Himself and His saints.

Granted that it is necessary that a man be holy if he would see the Lord and possess eternal life; the question arises why it is necessary. The answer: because God says so. But the question still remains, Why did God say so? This question appealed to the searching mind of Edwards, and from his earliest preaching we have important sermons on the subject. For example Edwards argues that “None will ever be admitted to see Christ but only holy persons.” *12* A major part of the sermon is devoted to the “reasons” for this doctrine. But we will consider more particularly another early sermon the doctrine of which is: “Those only that are holy are in the way to heaven.” *13* In this message holiness is defined as conformity of the heart and not merely outward conformity to God’s holy law.

The reasons that Edwards here gives for the necessity of holiness are four in number. First, it is contrary to reason to make the wicked equally happy with the holy. Justice obliges God to punish sin (Exo_34:3; Num_14:18). Second, a holy God cannot embrace a filthy creature. “It is therefore as impossible for an unholy thing to be admitted unto the happiness of heaven as it is for God not to be, or be turned to nothing.” *14* It is simply impossible for God to love sin, or a wicked man.



It is as impossible that God should love sin as it is for him to cease to be, and it is as impossible for him to love a wicked man that has not his sin purified. And it is as impossible for him to enjoy the happiness of heaven except God love him for the happiness of heaven consists in the enjoyment of God’s love. *15*



Edwards is here, no doubt, speaking of a love of complacency, not of benevolence. He makes the above statement more than once but he does not often take the time to explain the different uses of the word “love.” It is clear from his many utterances that he represented God as having a love of benevolence for the wicked and ungrateful, as in his sermon on Luke 6:35. *16*

Third, God could not only not love filthy creatures, but such a love would defile both him and heaven. It would fill heaven with the “loathsome stench of sin.” Finally, there is a reason inherent in the nature of sin which makes it necessary that the sinner be unhappy and incapable of being happy. That is, sin is a cruel tyrant, necessarily involving the soul defiled by it in misery. In its very nature it is rebellion and confusion; it could not consist with happiness. It is, therefore, impossible that a unholy person should be happy or inherit heaven. By the same token, holiness is necessary to glory. In a later sermon Edwards gives six reasons for the necessity of holiness for happiness. *17* We note the addition especially of a consideration of the Holy Spirit. This consideration was implicit in the former mention of the holiness of God, but here it is especially associated with that Person of the Godhead who promotes and infuses holiness. In this list Edwards also mentions the main principle of a Christian’s life: namely, love to God which makes him utterly hostile to anything opposed to God.



The Universality of Good Works and Perfection

Sanctification consists in good works which must be “universal.” “A true trust in Christ is never infused without other graces with it.” *18* This is the reason Edwards could preach that “a pretence of trusting in Christ is a vain pretence as long as men live wicked lives.” Faith rules out such a life, for it infuses the virtues with itself. It aims at virtue as such and therefore at universal virtue. If there were any virtue that it did not love, it could not be said to aim at virtue as such but only some virtues, and these would be cultivated for some reason other than themselves; for, if they were cultivated for themselves alone, all virtue would be cultivated and not merely some. “The graces are so related one to another that that one includes and infers another.” *19*

One of the deepest discussions of the holiness of the believer is found in the sermon on Psa_119:3 : “The spirit that godly men are of is a spirit to be perfectly holy.” *20* Edwards observes that a Christian is never satisfied with anything less than being perfectly holy. For him, remaining sin is a great burden and he will not be fully happy until it is removed. He does not “allow” any sin; but, on the contrary, fights against all remaining sin relentlessly. He will not neglect any known duty, for he is opposed to sins of omission as of commission. He will make an effort, not to know as little as possible of his duty, but as much as possible, and will come as close to perfection as it is possible in his present state. He loves the law and that not in spite of its strictness but because of it.



Sanctification as Evidence of Grace

Good works not only have the qualities spoken of above, they are also very convincing demonstrations of the reality of Christians’ experience. When Satan sees them he knows that he has been defeated and that one of his former captives is his no more. *21* It is not mere profession that convinces Satan, but practical holiness alone. Such actual holiness is convincing to men as well as devils. “A manifestation of godliness in a man’s life and walk is a better ground of others’ charity concerning his godliness than any account that he gives about it in words.” *22* It runs as a refrain through Edwards’ preaching that actions speak louder than words. Indeed, in his most famous treatise on the subject, Religious Affections, with respect to others and to oneself, the greatest test of religious experience is clearly this one. *23*

In the sermon on Psa_139:23-24 Edwards compares the witness of a godly life with the power of preaching:



If those who call themselves Christians, thus walked in all the paths of virtue and holiness, it would tend more to the advancement of the kingdom of Christ in the world, the conviction of sinners, and propagation of religion among unbelievers, than all the sermons in the world, so long as the lives of those who are called christians continue as they are now. *24*



As far as God, who searches the hearts, is concerned: “there can be no acceptable glory and honor given to God without grace. One truly sincere person gives more glory to God than a whole world of wicked men.” *25* Such a person’s giving a cup of cold water in the name of Christ means far more to God than someone else giving his body to be burned. Although this grace in the souls of saints is exceedingly small it is very powerful and, by divine constitution, indestructible. “Christianity consists very much in practice” and not merely in belief in doctrine and the catechism, Edwards preached. It is a “very active thing . . . [it] always promotes action.” It is called a doctrine according to godliness and it leads to a “laborious” life. *26*

“Faith is a working thing.” Although it is a seed, that seed abides; it is not destroyed. That grace is powerful is the theme of the sermon on 2 Timothy 3:5. *27* This is seen in the very nature of its acting; truly Christians are baptized with fire. Its overcoming all opposition (this plant cannot be uprooted) proves it further.

The fact that its working is able to mortify the lusts of the human heart is especially evidential of its power. The natural man cannot mortify his own lusts. All he does is to close one vent and open another so that his lusts, if curtailed in one direction, may continue to express themselves in another. Nor is reason and learning able to mortify lusts. Not even religion can do it if it is without grace. The preachers of truth are futile against it. But grace can overcome this depravity. So we have a view of Christian grace that even in great weakness is greater than the lusts of the depraved human heart.



Sanctification as Struggle

While the Christian has a new and powerful principle that overcomes his lusts, these lusts are still present. *28* As noted above, there is more sin than grace there. The “natural distempers” (apparently he means those patterns of behavior to which some men are especially prone by nature) also obscure the principle of grace, and grace does not always shine clearly through them. *29* Furthermore, even in the saint’s most excellent experiences of grace, the evil spirit is prone to inject itself. Edwards says that he has known it in an abundance of instances that “the devil has come in the midst of the most excellent frames,” just as Christ himself was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil immediately after the coming of the Holy Spirit upon him. *30*

The inevitable result of the presence of these two diverse and antagonistic principles in the heart is a bitter struggle. The sermon on Galatians 517 is one of Edwards’ fullest treatments of this “good fight” *31* There is in the godly heart a struggle going on comparable to that which went on in the womb of Rebecca as Jacob sought to supplant Esau. *32* Warfare is another analogy by which Edwards was wont to describe the struggle in the heart of the converted person. “In order to our being preserved from destruction by our spiritual enemies we have need to behave ourselves in the business of religion as those that are engaged in the most dangerous war.” *33*

The same truth is expressed from another viewpoint in the sermon on Luke 22:32. *34* This sermon assumes that the believer will be defeated constantly by his adversary and must continue the battle and replenish his resources by a constant conversion to God. “Those that have true grace in their hearts may yet stand in great need of being converted.” There are subsequent changes that the godly undergo which are spoken of in the like terms of the first change, which is commonly called conversion in Psa_51:13, Isa_6:10, and Act_3:19. The first work of conversion is called a putting off of the old man in Col_4:9 f. Spiritual resurrection signifies regeneration in Eph_2:1; Eph_2:5, but it also means later works in Eph_1:6. Saints are exhorted to be transformed in Rom_12:1. The Corinthian saints were urged to be reconciled to God, 2Co_5:20. The disciples must be converted, according to Christ in Mat_18:1-35.

On the basis of this Biblical data, Edwards draws two conclusions. First, any work carrying grace to a higher degree may be called conversion. Converts often call a later stage their conversion (cf. Deu_30:1-20). Second, when the godly are renewed after great falls this is called conversion.

The reasons for using the word conversion in this manner are two. First, it is the same work of grace. Regeneration is sometimes called an act and sometimes a process, but it is the same in nature (Mat_19:28). It is all a work of God (Php_1:6). Both the beginning and the process are called sanctification in the Bible. In 1Co_1:2 sanctification refers to effectual calling, but in Joh_17:17 the word is used of an experience long afterward. Conversion is called creation, but every act of sanctification is a creation. And every act of sanctification is a raising from the dead. Long after the Damascus road Paul was still seeking to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Likewise the “putting off the old man” goes on all the time because no lust ever dies in this life. Also, there must be a constant crucifixion.

Second, not only is the work the same in nature, but the manner of effecting it is the same. God again begins the work on the basis of an appeal to self-love and fear. Just as sinners are awakened in the first place, so they are subsequently awakened from their subsequent sins. Thus Hezekiah, after his great pride, was made afraid. David, after his adultery and murder, was brought to fear that God would take his Holy Spirit from him. Jonah, fleeing from God, is made to look again to the temple, fearing for his life.

How does a person know whether his moral defeat is a mark of reprobation or of Christian imperfection? In the application of his sermon on Rev_17:14 Edwards considers and answers this question. *35* The saint may be deceived, he says, citing Noah, Lot, and Elijah as examples. A faithful man may be “surprised” and suddenly supplanted, or overtaken. But it is not the way of a true Christian to fall utterly away under ordinary temptation. If a person does that, he is not faithful - that is, not converted. “All true saints justify the gospel of Jesus Christ,” he says, distinguishing sound faith from Quaker “enthusiasm.” *36* It would be utterly inconsistent for a faith that arises from a view of the glory of God and the awfulness of sin not to express itself in consonant works.

What is religion, the Puritan sage asks, and answers it saying: it “is nothing else but the creature’s exercise and manifestation of respect to the divine being.” *37* Let us not, he urges in another sermon, trust in any supposed coming to Christ. Careful examination will easily distinguish between a mere “flush of affection” and a counting the cost and following him. *38* True converts “take Christ’s yoke upon them.” It is a mark of true revival that there is a drastic alteration in behavior. “When the Spirit of God has been remarkably poured out on a people, a thorough reformation of those things that before were amiss amongst them ought to be the effect of it.” *39* When the Spirit is thus come upon men there is a tendency to three things: awakening, converting, and confirming. “Some men are Reformed, that are not converted but none are converted but what are Reformed.”



“Dull Frames” and Divine Chastisement

It may sometimes be difficult to know whether religious experience is the false affection of the ungodly, or the “dull frames” of the godly. Sometimes what makes a person want to go to heaven is really merely a desire not to go to hell. If in doubt, there are two sure tests: first, do you have some particular and lively exercises of the Spirit? And, second, do you prefer God in practice? ** In another sermon Edwards applies Act_19:19 to his people:



It has lately been with us as it was in Ephesus. . . . Many things that were formerly found amiss amongst us have been in a great measure reformed and are for the present reformed. . . . It was much taken notice of amongst us the last spring and the winter before how much people’s minds seemed to be taken off from the world. [But, he continues,] ’Tis in the mouths of everyone how the town is growing worldly again, and what a great difference there is in the town from what was the last year. *41*



Edwards warns the congregation that continued evidence of revival is necessary.

The godly do not only have a struggle going on within them after their conversion, but God sends chastisements from without as well - He tests grace. *42* Edwards mentions various kinds of chastisements. We will consider here three of them: sickness, darkness, and affliction.

Sickness is given for purposes of chastening the Christian for his sinning, says Edwards, citing Psa_107:7. In the same context he observes that healing is especially connected with pardon (Psa_3:3; Mat_9:2). So sickness may come from sin and healing from repentance. God sometimes resorts to this method of dealing with saints - inflicting sickness upon them - after they fail to respond to other calls (Job_33:14 f). The doctrine of the sermon on Luk_4:38 is: “When persons are restored from dangerous sickness their business should be to serve and minister to him that has restored them.” *43*

God sometimes hides himself from his people in displeasure with them because of their sins. “When persons depart from God after gracious manifestations that God has made of himself to them their sin is exceedingly aggravated and peculiarly offensive to God.” *44* The light of faith will never go out, but saints may be guilty of shameful declension. As a result of this, God may deprive them of a sense of his presence. The saint will not then have that normal feeling which he has when in a “good frame.” No godly person is always in a “holy frame.” *45*

Third, and finally, God sends general afflictions on his sinning people. The early sermons on Eze_7:16 deal with this subject of God’s judgments on his people, but also with what use is to be made of them. “God never punishes any man except it be for his own sin, and he suffers for no other guilt, but what is upon his own soul.” Men may share in others’ sins but no other way than by “making of them their own, either by promoting, assisting, or consenting” to them. This is true even with respect to the sin of Adam. “We are guilty of Adam’s transgression not as it is the sin of Adam, but as it is our own as he stood our common head and representative and as our own souls by this means became contaminated with guilt and filthiness.” So men partake of common judgments only as they partake of common sins. Therefore, it becomes all to mourn in time of general judgment. In the context of this passage some of Israel were visited while others escaped, and Edwards states this doctrine: “That at a time when a people are called to a general humiliation it becomes each one to mourn for his own iniquity.” Thus all of God’s people are to benefit from the divine judgments on any of them. It provokes God when his people lament public disaster and not their own guilt in it. The sermon ends in a call to repentance. The Holy Spirit has left us and general dullness prevails. There is an increase of vice and worldliness. Thus God is calling aloud for us to mourn our iniquities. Let us therefore in the midst of calamity recall our own sins. Let us “trace our own foot steps over again.”

Although God chastises his people, he does not afflict them as he afflicts others. God would not let his people suffer as those whom he hates, says Edwards, citing 1Pe_4:16-17. The same visitations are evidences of mercy to God’s people and wrath to the ungodly. They work together for good to one group, for evil to the other. *46*

The effect of chastisements on the godly should be repentance and joy. Theirs is a true repentance, but nonetheless a repentance “unto life.” How persons who have already been forgiven for their sins may yet confess them, repent of them, and ask for forgiveness is explained in a sermon on Eze_16:63. Saints should be continually repenting for their sins, Edwards teaches in this sermon. Though these sins have been blotted out of the book of God’s remembrance forever, they should not be blotted out of man’s book of remembrance. Six reasons are given for this doctrine. First, it is no reason for not repenting that the punishment of sin has been removed, for repentance is not so much with reference to the punishment of sin as its nature. Second, the ground of repentance is not removed, but increased, by the forgiveness of sins (Rom_2:4). Third, the saints are still sinful worms. Fourth, confession of sinfulness especially becomes a humble Christian profession and hope. Fifth, true grace tends to repentance, for it makes men conscious of, and sorry for, sin. Sixth, repentance has never been fully and sufficiently done. *47*

It may seem strange that a man should rejoice in his sufferings, but that is the doctrine of an early sermon on Isa_3:10 : “A good man is a happy man whatever his outward condition is.” Edwards first reminds his parishioners that the outward circumstances of the godly are sometimes very afflictive. God may send his judgments on the world without discriminating, apparently, between his own and those who are not. So the godly must enter the Kingdom through many tribulations. But a good man is happy nonetheless. “A good man may look down upon all the whole army of worldly afflictions under his feet without concern.” He is happy because he knows that he is delivered from these afflictions and, more than that, that they are actually working him good. What a consolation in the midst of tribulations to recall that God is favorable to the godly, even the one who “keeps him in being and who disposes of him and all other things every moment.” This God actually loves him. Affliction makes the saint think of these things and thereby promotes his conscious well-being. Furthermore, these present trials accentuate the glory that is to follow which will include the fullest measure of the present joys without any mixture of grief. Such thinking, he concludes with a very modern ring, is the cure of all earthly ills: “A good man may look down upon all the whole army of worldly afflictions under his feet without concern.”. *48*

“Every Christian has the heart of a martyr.” He need not suffer persecution but he must have the disposition to do so, if he is a godly person. *49* In the sermon on Luk_12:4-5, Edwards shows that the worst evils that the power of evil men can bring upon Christians, in the permissive providence of God, are absolutely nothing at all in comparison to damnation. And since God is purifying his people by these chastisements so that they may not suffer damnation, they may look with calmness on the greatest of them. He goes into great detail showing the terrible sufferings that the servants of Christ have undergone; tormented without rest till they fell; roasted until almost dead and then restored for further roasting; tied to posts to watch their infants dying; frying on gridirons; put in hot iron chains; their flesh torn off bones with hot iron pincers; scourged till bowels fell out; cords twisted about their heads till brains gushed out; faces chiseled; fingers pulled off with hot pincers; molten lead poured down their throats; necks squeezed off between folding doors - all of these things bore no comparison to damnation, and the saints could properly regard them as but “light afflictions but for a moment.” *50*



“Backsliding”

I take up the subject of “Backsliding” here because in modern times (dominated as it is by an Arminian theology which maintains the possibility of a converted person’s falling from grace), it represents a failure of the sanctifying process. In that frame of reference it signifies a converted person’s losing his conversion as a result of sin. Roman Catholic Arminians call such sins “mortal”. Since Calvinism teaches the perseverance of the saints (that is, that converted persons never fall from their salvation), it does not accept the doctrine of backsliding in the Arminian sense of the word. There is no enchantment, no “witchcraft” can hurt them [the converted]. “God holds Satan on a chain.” *51*

The term itself, however, has its place in Calvinistic theology and constantly appears in the preaching of Jonathan Edwards. While I do not recall ever seeing a formal definition of backsliding in his writings, the meaning is quite clear: backsliding is a person’s retarding, or desisting from, his seeking of salvation (as discussed in chapter XXVIII), and not his loss of an actually obtained salvation.

A good deal is written about Puritan impurity, of course, the subject having an especial allure for a jaded age amused by the “pretensions” of the past. Emil Oberholzer, Jr.’s Delinquent Saints is a good and informative illustration of the genre. *52* It ranges over the church discipline records of past centuries in New England enlightening the dark landscape. Nevertheless, useful as such research is, the concept of “backsliding” goes unnoticed, probably unknown, among most general students of Puritanism with a special interest. It was not peripheral to Edwards’ preaching, however.

Preaching to his people under conviction Edwards urged:



2. There is on some accounts greater danger that such as are in your circumstances will fail of thoroughly improving their convictions, with respect to steadfastness and perseverance, than others. Those that are young are more unstable than elder persons. They who never had convictions before, have less experience of the difficulty of the work they have engaged in; they are more ready to think that they shall obtain salvation easily, and are more easily discouraged by disappointments; and young persons have less reason and consideration to fortify them against temptations to backsliding. You should therefore labour now the more to guard against such temptations. By all means make but one work of seeking salvation! Make thorough work of it the first time! There are vast disadvantages that they bring themselves under, who have several turns of seeking with great intermissions. By such a course, persons exceedingly wound their own souls, and entangle themselves in many snares. Who are those that commonly meet with so many difficulties, and are so long labouring in darkness and perplexity, but those who have had several turns at seeking salvation; who have one while had convictions, and then have quenched them, and then have set about the work again, and have backslidden again, and have gone on after that manner? The children of Israel would not have been forty years in the wilderness, if they had held their courage, and had gone on as they set out; but they were of an unstable mind, and were for going back again into Egypt. - Otherwise, if they had gone right forward without discouragement, as God would have led them, they would have soon entered and taken possession of Canaan. They had got to the very borders of it when they turned back, but were thirty-eight years after that, before they got through the wilderness. Therefore, as you regard the interest of your soul, do not run yourself into a like difficulty, by unsteadiness, intermission, and backsliding; but press right forward, from henceforth, and make but one work of seeking, converting, and pardoning grace, however great, and difficult, and long a work that may be. *53*



In one sermon addressing the backsliding those who outwardly profess Christ and thereby become associated with His church, Edwards lists six different types. The first and most grievous form of backsliding is the commission of the unpardonable sin. Heb_6:1-20 and Mar_3:28 are cited as illustrations of such backsliding. “Backsliding in its perfection is the unpardonable sin. So all backsliding is an approach to it.” Second, some apostasize from all religion and become atheists, deists, or profane persons. Third, still others fall into heresy or false religion while not disassociating themselves from the church. A fourth class of backsliders includes those who fall into vicious practices. Fifth, sinners who have been awakened but who have dropped back into their spiritual sleep and death are backsliders - Lots wife and the children of Israel in the wilderness are Biblical examples of this group. *54* And, lastly, there is the falling away of those who have had great affections and shows of godliness (Psa_106:12). These are the stony-ground hearers of Mat_13:1-58, who receive the Word of God with joy but who recant as soon as tribulations come. Jud_1:4, mentions some others of this group, but the Pharisees, as a class, are the best illustration. Saul is a personal illustration. These people either lose their appearance of religion or corrupt their experiences. *55*

Edwards does not deny that even suicide may become a part of “backsliding.” He responds to the criticism of that grim fact:



The objection from hence is no stronger against awakening preaching, that it is against the Bible itself: there are hundreds, and probably thousands of instances, might be produced, of persons that have murdered themselves under religious melancholy. These murders probably never would have been, if it had not been for the Bible, or if the world had remained in a state of heathenish darkness. The Bible has not only been the occasion of these sad effects, but of thousands, and I suppose millions, of other cruel murders that have been committed, in the persecutions that have been raised, that never would have been, if it had not been for the Bible. Many whole countries have been, as it were deluged with innocent blood, which would not have been, if the Gospel never had been preached in the world. ’Tis not a good objection against any kind of preaching, that some men abuse it greatly to their hurt. It has been acknowledged by all divines, as a thing common in all ages, and all Christian countries, that a very great part of those that sit under the Gospel, do so abuse it that it only proves an occasion of their far more aggravated damnation, and so of men’s eternally murdering their souls; which is an effect infinitely more terrible than the murder of their bodies. ’Tis as unjust to lay the blame of these self-murders to those ministers who have declared the awful truths of God’s Word, in the most lively and affecting manner they were capable of, as it would be to lay the blame of hardening men’s hearts, and blinding their eyes, and their more dreadful eternal damnation, to the prophet Isaiah, or Jesus Christ, because this was the consequence of their preaching with respect to many of their hearers. Isa_6:10; Joh_9:39; Mat_13:14. Though a very few have abused the awakening preaching that has lately been, to so sad an effect as to be the cause of their own temporal death; yet it may be, to one such instance there have been hundreds, yea thousands, that have been saved by this means from eternal death. *56*



Edwards was constantly warning his people against the grave seriousness of the sin of backsliding. It has already been noted that it sometimes led to the unpardonable sin. It was dangerous too, because the backslider was usually incorrigible. It was much more difficult to convert him than others. “[E]xperience confirms, that none ordinarily are so hard to be brought to repentance as backsliders.” *57* Edwards regarded this sin as the one to which Christ referred when He spoke of the man who drove out one devil, had cleansed his heart and swept and garnished it, and then seven other devils came in and took control. His last condition was worse than the first. *58*

Backsliding is a treacherous condition. The person guilty of this sin may hardly realize it; indeed he may think himself well off when actually hopelessly doomed. It was compared to the distemper:



[It] is exceeding secret in its way of working. It is a flattering distemper; it works like a consumption, wherein persons often flatter themselves that they are not worse, but something better, and in a hopeful way to recover, till a few days before they die. *59*



All in all, this condition was worse than being in hell because there was so little hope of being delivered from it, and while in it one only made his eternal hell the hotter every moment. It would be better if he went to hell than continued in his backslidden condition.

No small amount of attention was given to studying the way that backsliding came about so that Edwards might alert his people. In the sermon on Job_27:10 the reasons are given for a backsliding in the life of prayer. The doctrine was: “However hypocrites may continue for a season in the duty of prayer, yet it is their manner, after a while, in a great measure to leave off.” *60* First, hypocrites never have the true spirit of prayer; they never pray for prayer’s sake or the glory of God, but for some ulterior purpose. Second, their false hopes, which they entertain thinking themselves to be converted persons, take off the force of God’s commands. As long as they feel themselves in danger, they feel constrained to pray; but when they no longer feel such danger they desist from this unpleasant and now unnecessary (as they think) exercise. Third, they now, feeling safe, dare to neglect the duty of prayer. A fourth reason that they backslide from their life of prayer is that they had never, at the outset, counted the cost of the Christian life. They had wrongly supposed that it would be an easy life - that it would require very little effort. When they discover otherwise, they are offended and disillusioned and tend to give up in despair and to revert to sinful practices. This is not congenial to a life of prayer, for “sinning and praying don’t very well agree together.” Finally, because they have no interest in the gracious spiritual promises of God to keep their prayers alive, they tend to lapse.

The sermon on Pro_26:11 gives a more fundamental explanation of the spiritual phenomenon of backsliding. Three reasons for this are here given. First, “Nature is a more powerful principle of action than anything that opposes it.” It cannot be conquered by anything external to it. If it is not changed, it cannot be quenched. Second, nature is more constant than anything else in the affairs of men. Convictions come and go; awakenings are now and then; resolutions are made and broken; but, a man’s nature remains the same and constant in its activity. Third, God gives no promise of continual assistance against the nature of a man. While he works against it by the convictions of conscience and the activity of the Spirit, he does not promise to continue always to strive with men. So, if the nature remains unchanged and the activity of God is changed, when men do not repent and believe, there is nothing to resist the activity of this nature and it prevails. A voice from heaven could not stop Israel in the wilderness. The terrors of hell cannot overcome this nature. Promises and resolutions are of no adequate avail. *61*

Perhaps the best illustration of a backslider to whom Edwards devoted much attention is King Saul. The sermon on 1Sa_28:15 is an extensive study of Saul’s experiences: “Saul was a remarkable instance of the awful and doleful circumstances a man is in when left of God.” *62* First of all, Edwards notes that there was a time when God was with Saul. God was not with him as He was with the saints, but He outwardly blessed him. He honored him in the sight of Israel, and appointed him king by an immediate revelation of the divine will. Therefore he was called the Lord’s anointed (1Sa_24:6). Because God thus honored the king, His prophet Samuel did the same. When the king consulted him, Samuel inquired of God on his behalf and this was a further evidence that God was with him. Providence, generally, was with him and he was victorious in battle.

In addition to these outward blessings of God, Saul enjoyed considerable measure of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He had zeal for the cause of Jehovah, as was seen in his destroying those who had familiar spirits as God had commanded. He kept sin from his army. And in spite of his great prominence, he was humble appearing and he held his peace against the children of Belial (1Sa_10:17). Saul had extraordinary gifts and assurances of God’s Spirit. The spirit of prophecy was given to him. His ability was by the Holy Spirit (1Sa_10:6), and the Holy Spirit was on him (1Sa_13:14).

In spite of all these advantages, however, Saul was not turning to God and God was gradually abandoning him. But the crisis came when, contrary to the express divine command, Saul spared King Agag. Then the kingdom was taken from him (1Sa_13:14).

From that time on there was nothing from God but a curse. Saul had backslidden and God had permanently abandoned him. Henceforth the king had no more quietness of mind. He suffered torments of the damned. Before these acute inner sufferings he tended to give up rather than to strive more earnestly than ever. Corresponding to his inner turmoil, his outward affairs failed to prosper. Jealousy of David, distrust of Jonathan, and defeats by the Philistines marred his reign. Then the restraining grace of God was removed and Saul, being abandoned by God, abandoned himself and a murderous mood overtook him as he killed eighty-five priests of Jehovah, broke his oath, and finally killed himself.

Jonathan Edwards did not see backsliding in King Saul, Judas, and Israel alone. It was marring the great work of God in Northampton also. In spite of all his warnings against this fatal spiritual malady, many of his people fell the victims of it. In 1744, after the revivals were a memory, a letter of his gives a general appraisal of the past, acknowledging the backsliding of many and hopeful of the perseverance of most:



’Tis probable that you have been informed, by other correspondents, before now, what the present state of things in New England is: it is, indeed, on many accounts very melancholy; there is a vast alteration within these two years; for about so long I think it is, since the Spirit of God began to withdraw, and this great work has been on the decline. Great numbers in the land, about two years ago, were raised to an exceedingly great height, in joy and elevation of mind; and through want of watchfulness, and sensibleness of the danger and temptation that there is in such circumstances, many were greatly exposed, and the devil taking the advantage, multitudes were soon, and to themselves insensibly, led far away from God and their duty; God was provoked that he was not sanctified in this height of advancement, as he ought to have been; he saw our spiritual pride and self-confidence, and the polluted flames that arose of intemperate, unhallowed zeal; and he soon, in a great measure, withdrew from us; and the consequence has been, that the enemy has come in like a flood, in various respects, until the deluge has overwhelmed the whole land. There had from the beginning been a great mixture, especially in some places, of false experiences, and false religion with true; but from about this time, the mixture became much greater, many were led away with sad delusions; and this opened the door for the enemy to come in like a flood in another respect, it gave great advantages to these enemies and opposers of this work, furnished them with weapons and gave them new courage, and has laid the friends of the work under such disadvantage, that nothing that they could do would avail any thing to withstand their violence. And now it is come to that, that the work is put to stop every where, and it is a day of the enemy’s triumph; but I believe also a day of God’s people’s humiliation, which will be better to them in the end than their elevations and raptures. The time has been amongst us when the sower went forth to sow, and we have seen the spring wherein the seed sprang up in different sorts of ground, appearing then fair and flourishing; but this spring is past, and we now see the summer, wherein the sun is up with a burning heat, that tries the sorts of ground; and now appears the difference, the seed in stony ground, where there was only a thin layer of earth on a rock, withers away, the moisture being dried out; and the hidden seeds and roots of thorns, in unsubdued ground, now springs up and choke the seed of the word. Many high professors are fallen, some into gross immoralities, some into a rooted spiritual pride, enthusiasm, and an incorrigible wildness of behaviour, some into a cold frame of mind, showing a great indifference to the things of religion. But there are many, and I hope those the greater part of those that were professed converts, who appear hitherto like the good ground, and notwithstanding the thick and dark clouds, that so soon follow that blessed sunshine that we have had; yet I cannot but stedfastly maintain a hope and persuasion that God will revive his work, and that what has been so great and very extraordinary, is a forerunner of a yet more glorious and extensive work. *63*



No matter what the circumstances, Edwards had hope that God would revive His work. And if He did, when His Spirit came again in power upon this people, Edwards was confident that He would lead them anew to that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Where the Spirit is savingly at work, His sanctifying power cannot be finally overcome. Edwards lived and preached and died in this hope. As an eloquent example of Edwards’ insight into the doctrine of sanctification, I conclude this chapter with selections from his Treatise on Grace.



II

SHEWING WHEREIN ALL SAVING GRACE DOES SUMMARILY CONSIST



III

SHEWING HOW A PRINCIPLE OF GRACE IS FROM THE SPIRIT OF GOD