Throughout his adult life Jonathan Edwards kept a series of personal theological notebooks on a wide variety of miscellaneous subjects. This volume includes the notebook entries written during the eventful and tumultuous years 1740–1751, when Edwards was plagued by a series of bitter controversies with his Northampton congregation that culminated in his dismissal. This was also the period during which he witnessed, documented, and pondered the surprising revivals of the Great Awakening, as well as their precipitous decline. Amy Plantinga Pauw is Henry P. Mobley, Jr., Professor of Doctrinal Theology, Louisville Presbyterian Seminary. THE WORKS OF JONATHAN EDWARDS VOLUME 20 The "Miscellanies" (Entry Nos. 833-1152) By JONATHAN EDWARDS YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 2002 Yale University All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-300-09174-8 Contents Editorial Committee.........................................vList of Illustrations.......................................viiiNote to the Reader..........................................ixEditor's Introduction.......................................1The "Miscellanies," Entry Nos. 833-1152.....................41General Index...............................................527Index of Biblical Passages..................................553 Chapter One THE "MISCELLANIES," ENTRY NOS. 833-1152 833. Occasion of the Fall of the Angels. Christ had his delegated dominion over the world committed to him as soon as the creation of the world was finished. For though Christ did [not] actually begin the work and business of a mediator till man had fallen, yet seeing the world, even in its very creation, was designed to be for the use of Christ in the great affair of redemption, and his purposes in that work were the end of the creation, and of all God's providences in it from the beginning; therefore, the government of the world was committed into his hands from the very beginning, for even the very creation was committed into his hands for that reason, as the Apostle intimates, Eph. 3:9-10. Much more have we reason to think that the disposal of it was committed into his hands when it was made, because it was created for his disposal and use. It was therefore most fit that it should be committed to him, not only in the actual accomplishment of that great work of his, the work of redemption, but also in those antecedent dispensations that were preparatory to it. During that short space of time that was taken up in the preparation before the work of redemption actually began, it was most meet that Christ should have the disposal of those things that were to prepare the way for his own work; otherwise the work would not wholly be in his hands. For the accomplishing of the work itself, so as best to suit his own purpose and pleasure, depends in a great measure on the preparation that was made for it; and so there is the same reason that the preparation should be in his hands as the work itself. There is the same reason that those things that are without the limits of the work itself, as to time, should be in the hands of Christ, because of the relation they have to that work, as that those things that are without the limits of the work itself, as to place and nature and order of being, should be in his hands, as the angels in heaven. Indeed, all the works of God that were before the fall of men were parts of the work of preparation for the work of redemption. The creation itself was so, and for this reason the creation of the world was committed into his hands. And there is no reason to suppose that part of this work of preparation was committed into Christ's hands, because it was a preparation for his work, and not other parts of the preparation for the same work. All things are for Christ for his use; and therefore God left it with him to prepare all things for his own use that in everything he might have the preeminence, and that in him might all fullness dwell, a perfect sufficiency every way for the design that he had to accomplish. And therefore, by the will and disposition of the Father, all things were made by him and all things consist by him; and he was made head over all things to the church, and for the purposes of the work of redemption that he was to accomplish for the church. Col. 1:16-19, "For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created by him and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body of the church: who is the beginning, the first born from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." Eph. 1:22, "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church." 'Tis manifest by these things that not only the creation of the world,