An Eternal and Infinite Fountain of Love
“There, even in heaven, dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is, or ever was, proceeds. There dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one, in infinitely dear, and incomprehensible, and mutual, and eternal love. There dwells God the Father, who is the father of mercies, and so the father of love, who so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son to die for it. There dwells Christ, the Lamb of God, the prince of peace and of love, who so loved the world that he shed his blood, and poured out his soul unto death for men. There dwells the great mediator, through whom all the divine love is expressed toward men, and by whom the fruits of that love have been purchased, and through whom they are communicated, and through whom love is imparted to the hearts of all God’s people. There dwells Christ in both his natures, the human and the divine, sitting on the same through with the Father. And there dwells the Holy Spirit–the Spirit of divine love, in whom the very essence of God, as it were, flows out, and is breathed forth in love, and by whose immediate influence all holy love is shed abroad in the hearts of all the saints on earth and in heaven. There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love–this eternal Three in One–is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it, as it flows for ever. There this glorious God is manifested, and shines forth, in full glory, in beams of love. And there this glorious fountain for ever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love!”
—Jonathan Edwards, “Heaven, A World of Charity or Love,” in Charity and its Fruits, p. 327–8.
12 September 2007 |
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Tags: Jonathan Edwards, Trinity
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Who knew that Mr. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” could write such a beautiful excursus on Triune love! At whatever point you have insight into how Edwards gets from here to “fire and brimstone” and back, I’m waiting to hear it.
Believe it or not, he makes the whole journey in this same sermon! While “fire and brimstone” doesn’t seem to be an apt basic descriptor of Edwards’s preaching style, he does have a strong apocalyptic sense about him and urges his parishioners towards the love of Christ with serious urgency. So at the end of this sermon, after 30-35 pages on the world of love that is heaven, he turns for a few pages to “hell, a world of hatred, where there is no love, which is the world to which all of you who are in a Christless state properly belong.” He urges those who find themselves without Christ to consider this terrible world to which they belong, and to flee to the fold of Christ, the fold of divine love. The danger of hell is the excursus, but no less important for that–for this truly is the other option, and the issue is urgent.
You should really read this sermon as soon as possible. While certain things like this exposition of hell might give one pause, I found myself on the whole deeply moved.
I will. In fact, next week we’re doing Jonathan Edwards in Historical Theology (w/Mark Noll, interestingly). Do you have another key but brief reading suggestion?