45. Ruth’s Resolution. This sermon was one of five “Discourses on Various Important Subjects, Nearly concerning the great Affair of the Soul’s Eternal Salvation: viz. I. Justification by Faith Alone. II. Pressing into the Kingdom of God. III. Ruth’s Resolution. IV. The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners. V. The Excellency of Jesus Christ. Delivered in Northampton, chiefly in the time of the late wonderful pouring out of the Spirit of God there. By Jonathan Edwards A.M. Pastor of the Church of Christ in Northampton. Deut. iv. 8 [9]—Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life.
Boston: Printed and sold by S. Kneeland and T. Green, in Queen Street over against the Prison. MDCCXXXVIII.” The first four of these discourses were preached during the revival of 1734-1735 and were selected by the desire of the people as those from which they had derived special benefit; the fifth was selected by Edwards himself at the request of some persons from a neighboring town who heard it, and because he thought that a sermon on the excellency of Christ might appropriately follow the others, which were of an awakening character. They were prefixed to the American reprint of the Narrative of Surprising Conversions, which was first published in England. The cost of their publication was defrayed by the congregation,—clear evidence of their deep interest, as they were at the time heavily burdened by the expenses of the new meeting house. See Dwight, Life of Edwards, pp. 140 f.; cf. n. here following, p. 162.
The
sermon on Ruth’s Resolution has been selected as the shortest of the above
discourses to illustrate a type of revival sermon in marked contrast to the
sermon on Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. They all, however, bear out
Edwards’s own testimony concerning his preaching: “I have not only endeavored
to awaken you, that you might be moved with fear, but I have used my utmost
endeavors to win you” (Farewell Sermon). The manuscript of the sermon is dated
April 1735, and it seems to have been printed very nearly as it was written.
