by Jonathan Edwards
in ePub, .mobi & .pdf formats
In this profound and towering work of theology, A Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World, Jonathan Edwards confronts the most ultimate of all questions: Why did God create? With penetrating logic and a deep reverence for the glory of God, Edwards argues that the supreme end of all creation is not the happiness of man, nor the fulfillment of history, but the exaltation and manifestation of God's own glory. Drawing from both Scripture and reason, he builds an unshakable case that God’s self-regard is not only righteous but necessary—and that all things, from the galaxies to the hearts of men, were brought into existence to radiate His infinite excellencies.
This dissertation is far more than a philosophical musing; it is a worshipful defense of God-centeredness. With Edwards’ hallmark clarity, he distinguishes between subordinate ends and ultimate ends, exposing modern errors that subtly put man at the center of God’s purposes. Edwards reminds us that God’s delight in Himself is not egotism but holiness—the very definition of moral perfection. The reader is invited to gaze into the eternal purposes of the triune God and to see that the highest joy and greatest meaning for creatures is found not in self-fulfillment, but in beholding and exalting the One for whom all things exist. This edition is indispensable for pastors, students, and lay believers hungry for a God-saturated vision of reality.
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Table of Contents
Introduction. Containing Explanations of Terms, and General Positions
Chapter One. Wherein Is Considered What Reason Teaches Concerning This Affair
SECTION I. Some Things Observed in General Which Reason Dictates
SECTION II. Some Farther Observations Concerning Those Things Which Reason Leads Us to Suppose God Aimed At in the Creation of the World, Showing Particularly What Things That Are Absolutely Good Are Actually the Consequence of the Creation of the World
SECTION III. Wherein It Is Considered How, on the Supposition of God's Making the Forementioned Things His Last End, He Manifests a Supreme and Ultimate Regard to Himself in All His Works
SECTION IV. Some Objections Considered Which May Be Made against the Reasonableness of What Has Been Said of God's Making Himself His Last End
Chapter Two. Wherein It Is Inquired, What Is to Be Learned from Holy Scriptures Concerning God's Last End in the Creation of the World
SECTION I. The Scriptures Represent God as Making Himself His Own Last End in the Creation of the World
SECTION II. Wherein Some Positions Are Advanced Concerning a Just Method of Arguing in This Affair from What We Find in Holy Scriptures
SECTION III. Particular Texts of Scripture That Show That God's Glory Is an Ultimate End of the Creation
SECTION IV. Places of Scripture That Lead Us to Suppose That God Created the World for His Name, to Make His Perfections Known; and That He Made It for His Praise
SECTION V. Places of Scripture from Whence It May Be Argued That Communication of Good to the Creature Was One Thing Which God Had in View as an Ultimate End of the Creation of the World
SECTION VI. Wherein Is Considered What Is Meant by the "Glory of God" and the "Name of God" in Scripture, When Spoken of as God's End in His Works
SECTION VII. Showing That the Ultimate End of the Creation of the World is But One, and What That One End Is