The True Believer: The Marks and Benefits of True Faith by Jonathan Edwards

Reformation Heritage Books.  lfpb.  320pp.

What are the marks of a true believer? And what are the blessings that come to those with true faith? These eternally significant questions are addressed in this collection of eight sermons by the great New England preacher Jonathan Edwards. Following the common practice of his Puritan predecessors, Edwards helps us discern the differences between true and counterfeit faith. He also holds forth the everlasting benefits of having Christ as our own.

Contents

1. Pardon for the Greatest of Sinners
2. True Grace Distinguished from the Experience of Devils
3. Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer
4. A Warning to Professors of Religion
5. Christians a Chosen Generation, a Royal Priesthood, a Peculiar People
6. The Peace Which God Gives His True Followers
7. True Saints, when Absent from the Body, Are Present with the Lord
8. The Portion of the Righteous

Endorsement

“Jonathan Edwards is known for the complexity of his thought. In these sermons, he brings that intellect to bear on the ‘simple’ truths of the gospel—repentance, faith, and assurance of God’s love. Many people know Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”; this collection of sermons extends our appreciation of Edwards’s ability to show the power and the beauty of the gospel to a needy world.”
—Stephen G. Myers, professor of systematic and historical theology, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan

About the Author

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) pastored a congregational church in Northampton, Massachusetts, and then moved to the frontier settlement of Stockbridge as a missionary to the Housatonic Indians. He was installed as the president of the College of New Jersey at Princeton but died within a few weeks from smallpox.