Not once in his ponderous and thunderous sermons does Edwards mention the Finished Work of the Cross.
The audience is treated to an uproarious harangue of fire and brimstone, yet not once does Edwards explain why men are sinners. He does not mention the law, he does not mention the abject failure of man to live up to God's holy standard, he does not explain the innate depravity of man, dead in his trespasses, unable to save himself by his own works.
The listeners are scared into claiming Christ as their savior, but the loveliness of Jesus Christ is not depicted to them. They become converts of ingratitude, men and women who look upon God as an unjust, cruel tyrant, one who has nothing but hatred to impart and descend upon mankind.
No Cross, no Finished Work, no glory, no salvation. Jonathan Edwards was one of the many preachers whom Paul warned the Galatians to avoid:
"But though we, or an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed.
"As we said before,
so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
ye have received, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1: 8-9)
What's worse than a wrong Gospel, perhaps, is the absence of a gospel. There is no good news at all, apart from the arbitrary grace of a "Angry God".
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