Jonathan Edwards Selected Shor
whether there shall be any at all: — Then none of these things belong to God's disposal, and therefore, surely it does not belong to him to promise them. For it does not belong to him to promise in an affair, concerning which he has not the disposal.
And how can God promise, as he oftentimes does in his Word, glorious times, when righteousness shall generally prevail, and his will shall generally be done; and yet that it is not an effect which belongs to him to determine; it is not left to his determination, but to the sovereign, arbitrary determination of others, independently on any determination of him; and therefore surely they ought to be the promisers? For him to promise, who has it not in his hand to dispose and determine, is a great absurdity, and yet God oftentimes in promising, speaks of himself as the sovereign disposer of the matter, using such expressions as abundantly imply it. Isa. 60:22, "I the Lord do hasten it in its time." Surely this is the language of a promiser, and not merely a predictor. God promises Abraham that "all the families of the earth shall be blessed in him." God swears "every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess." And it is said to be given to Christ, that every nation, etc. should serve and obey him, Dan. 7. After what manner they shall serve and obey him is abundantly declared in other prophecies, as in Isa. 11, and innumerable others. These are spoken of in the next chapter, as excellent things that God does.
51. If God is not the disposing author of virtue, then he is not the giver of it. The very notion of a giver implied a disposing cause of the possession of the benefit. 1 John 4:4, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them (i.e. have overcome your spiritual enemies), because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the