The Judgment Day — Jonathan Edwards

Christ Appears in Glory

The judgment day from the history of redemption by Jonathan Edwards number one Christ will appear in the glory of his father with all his holy angels coming in the clouds of heaven. When the world is thus reveling in their wickedness Encompassing the holy city just ready to destroy it then shall the glorious Redeemer make his appearance.

He through whom this redemption has all along been carried on shall appear in the sight of the world. The light of his glory shall break forth the whole world shall immediately have notice of it. And they shall lift up their eyes and behold this wonderful sight.

Every eye shall see him. Revelations 1 verse 7. Christ shall appear coming in this human nature in that same body now glorified Which was brought forth in a stable and laid in a manger which afterwards was so cruelly used and nailed to the cross.

Men shall now lift up their eyes and see him coming in such majesty and glory as now is to us utterly Inconceivable. The glory of the Sun and a clear firmament will be but darkness in Comparison of it and all the glorious angels and archangels shall attend him.

Thousand thousands ministering to him and ten thousand times ten thousand round about him. How different a person will he then appear from what he did at his first coming? When he was as a root out of a dry ground a poor despised afflicted man.

How different now is his appearance in the midst of those glorious angels? Principalities and powers and heavenly places. Attending him as his ordinary servants from what it was when in the midst of a ring of soldiers.

With his mock robe and his crown of thorns. Buffeted and spit upon or hanging on the cross between two thieves with a multitude of his enemies triumphing over him. This will be a most unexpected sight to the wicked world.

It will come as a cry at midnight. They shall be taken in the midst of their wickedness and it will give them a dreadful alarm. It will at once break up their revels their eating and drinking and carousing.

It will put a quick end to the design of the great army that will then be compassing the camp of the Saints. It will make them let drop their weapons out of their hands. The world Which will then be very full of people most of whom will be wicked men will then be filled with Delores shrieking and crying for all the kindreds of the year shall wail because of him.

Revelations 1 verse 7. And Where shall they hide themselves? How will the sight of that awful majesty terrify them when taken in the midst of their wickedness? Then they shall see who he is what kind of a person he is whom they have mocked and scoffed at and whose church They have been endeavoring to overthrow.

This site will change their voice the voice of their laughter and singing. While they are marrying and giving in marriage in the voice of their scoffing shall be changed into hideous hellish yelling. Their countenances shall be changed from a show of carnal mirth.

Haughty pride and contempt of God's people they shall put on ghastly terror and amazement. In trembling and chattering of teeth shall seize upon them. But with respect to the Saints that shall be a joyful and most glorious sight to them.

For this site will at once deliver them from all fear of their enemies who were before encompassing them about just ready to swallow them up. Deliverance shall come in their extremity. The glorious captain of their salvation shall appear for them at a time when no other help appeared.

Then shall they lift up their heads and their redemption shall be drawing nigh. Luke 21 verse 28. Christ will appear with infinite majesty. Yet at the same time shall they see infinite love and its countenance.

And Thus to see their Redeemer coming in the clouds of heaven will feel their hearts full of gladness. Their countenances will also be changed not as the countenances of the wicked but from being sorrowful To be exceedingly joyful and triumphant.

And now the work of redemption will be finished in another sense. That the whole church shall be completely and eternally freed from all persecution and molestation from wicked men and devils. Section 2.

The Last Trumpet and the Resurrection of the Dead

The last trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised in the living change. God sent forth his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet to gather together his elect from the four corners of the earth in a mystical sense before the destruction of Jerusalem.

In other words He sent forth the Apostles and others to preach the gospel all over the world. And so any mystical sense of the great trumpet was blown at the beginning of the glorious times of the church.

But now the great trumpet is blown in a more literal sense with a mighty sound which shakes the earth. There will be a great signal given by a mighty sound made which is called the voice of the archangel.

Is being the angel of greatest strength for Thessalonians 4 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God. On the sound of the great trumpet the dead shall be raised everywhere.

Now the number of the dead is very great. How many has death cut down since the world has stood? But then the number will be much greater. The world shall have stood longer and through most of the remaining time that will doubtless be much fuller of inhabitants than ever it has been.

All these shall now rise from the dead. The Greece shall be opened in all parts of the world and the sea shall give up the innumerable dead that are in it revelations 20 for 13. And now all the Inhabitants that ever shall have been upon the face of the earth shall all appear upon earth at once.

Among these will be Adam and Eve the first parents of mankind Abel and Seth and Methuselah and all the Saints which were their Contemporaries Noah and Abraham Isaac and Jacob the prophets of Israel and holy confessors.

Among them will appear all the holy apostles of Jesus Christ and all the saints of their times all the holy martyrs who fell under furious Persecutions. There will be found all who belong to the church in this wilderness state during the dark times of Antichrist.

And all who have suffered under his persecuting cruelty With all the saints of past in the present time and that shall be to the end of the world. Now also all the enemies of the church in all the ages shall appear again.

All the wicked heathens and Jews and Mohammed tins and tapas sinners of all sorts demure hypocrites profane sensual as heretics deus and all cruel Persecutors and all who shall have died in sin shall come together and at the same time that the dead are raised.

So living shall be changed. The bodies of the wicked who shall then be living shall be so changed as to fit them for eternal Torment. And the bodies of all the living saints shall be changed to be like in the Christ's glorious body.

First Corinthians 1551 to 53. The bodies of the Saints shall be so changed as to render them forever incapable of pain or affliction or uneasiness. And all that dullness and heaviness and all that deformity Which their bodies had before shall be put off and they shall put on strength and beauty Activity and uncorruptible unfading glory.

And in such glory shall the bodies of all the risen Saints appear. And Now the work of redemption shall be finished in another respect that all the elect shall now be actually redeemed both in soul and body.

Before this the work of redemption as to its actual success was but incomplete. For only the souls of the redeemed were actually saved and glorified accepting in some few instances. But now all the bodies of the Saints shall be saved and glorified together.

The Saints Meet Christ in the Air

All the elect shall be glorified in the whole man the soul and body in Union. Section 3. Now shall the Saints be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and all wicked men and devil shall be arraigned before the judgment seat.

When the dead Saints are raised and the whole church Consisting of all the elect through all ages will stand together on the earth at least all accepting those few whose bodies were Glorified before and then they shall all mount up as with wings to meet Christ.

It seems that Christ when he comes to judgment will not come quite to the ground. But his throne will be fixed in the airy region. Once he may be seen by all that vast multitude that shall be gathered before him.

The Saints of their fore shall ascend up to their Savior. Thus the Apostle tells us that when the dead in Christ are raised and living Changed than those who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.

And so shall we be ever with the Lord. First Thessalonians 4 16 and 17. What a wonderful sight will that be when all the many millions of Saints are thus mounting up. Then shall the work of redemption be finished in another respect.

Then shall the whole church be perfectly and forever delivered from this present evil world shall take their everlasting leave of this earth where they have been strangers and which has been for the most part a scene of Trouble and sorrow where the devil has reigned as God and has greatly molested them and which has been such a scene of wickedness and Abomination where Christ their Lord has been cruelly used and where they have been so hated reproached and persecuted.

They shall leave it and shall never set foot on it again. And there shall be an everlasting separation made between them and wicked men. Before they were mixed together and it was impossible in many instances to determine their characters.

But now all shall become visible. Both Saints and sinners shall appear in their true characters and the forms. Then shall all the church be seen ascending to the right hand of Christ what a mighty cloud of them will there be.

And Then also the work of redemption will be finished in another respect that then the church shall all be gathered together. They all belong to one society before but yet were greatly separated with respect to the place of their habitation.

Some were in heaven and some on earth and those who were on earth were separated many of them by wide oceans and vast continents. But now they shall all be gathered together never to separate anymore.

And not only shall all the members of the church now be gathered together. But all shall be gathered unto their head into his immediate glorious presence never to be separated from him anymore. At the same time all wicked men and devil shall be brought before the judgment seat of Christ.

These shall be gathered to the left hand of Christ and as it seems will still remain upon the earth. And shall not be caught up into the air as the Saints shall be. The devil that old serpent shall now be dragged up out of hell.

He the first procured the fall and misery of mankind and has so set himself against the Redemption and has all along shown himself such an inveterate enemy to the Redeemer. Shall nevermore have anything to do with the church of God nor be suffered in the least to afflict or molest any member of it forever.

Instead of that now he must be judged and receive the due reward of his deeds. Now has come the time which he is always dreaded to time wherein he must be judged and receive his full punishment. He who by his temptation maliciously procured Christ's crucifixion and Triumphed as though he had obtained a victory even he shall see the consequences of that death which he procured.

Now he must stand before that same Jesus to be judged Condemned and eternally destroyed by him. Is Satan the prince of hell trembles of the thought of it. Thousands of years beforehand how much more will he tremble proud and stubborn as he is when he comes to stand at Christ's bar.

Then shall he also stand at the bar of the Saints whom he is so hated afflicted and molested. For the Saints shall judge him with Christ. First Corinthians 6 3. Know you not that ye shall judge angels.

Now shall he be as it were subdued under the church's feet agreeable to Romans 16 20. Satan when he first tempted our first parents to sin Deceitfully and lyingly told them that they should be as God's.

But little did he think that they should indeed be so far as God's is to be assessors with God to judge him. Much less did he think that one of that nature which he then tempted one of the Posterity of those very persons whom he tempted should actually be united to God that is God.

He should judge the world and that he himself must stand trembling and astonished. All the devil's in hell who has so opposed Christ in his kingdom shall now at last stand in utmost Amazement and horror before Christ in his church who shall appear to condemn them.

Christ Judges His Enemies

Now also shall all Christ's other enemies be brought to appear before him. Now shall proud scribes and Pharisees Who had such a malignant hatred of Christ while in a state of humiliation and who persecuted him to death?

He made his judgment seat. Christ once stood as a malefactor at their bar and those who mocked him Buffeted him and spit in his face Shall see Christ in his glory is forewarned. Matthew 26 64 and 65. Then Christ was before their judgment seat.

But now it is their turn to stand before his judgment seat with inconceivable horror and amazement with ghastly countenances quaking limbs chattering teeth and knees smiting one against another. Now also all the cruel enemies and persecutors of the church that have been in all ages shall come in sight together.

Pharaoh and the Egyptians Antiochus Epiphanes the malignant scribes and Pharisees. The persecuting heathen emperors Julian the apostate the cruel persecuting popes and papas Gog and Magog shall all appear at once before the judgment seat of Christ.

They and the Saints who have in every age been persecuted by them shall come in sight and must now confront one another before the great judge. And Now shall the Saints on their glory of thrones be made the judges of those unjust kings and rulers who before judged and condemned Them and put them to cruel death.

Now shall those persecutors behold the glory to which they are arrived whom they before so cruelly despised and so cruelly Treated. Thus wonderfully will the face of things be altered. Now will all things be coming to rights section for the righteousness of the church shall be Manifested and all the wickedness of their enemies shall be brought to light.

The Church’s Righteousness Is Manifested

Those Saints who had been the objects of hatred reproach and contempt in the world Reviled and condemned by their persecutors without a cause shall now be fully vindicated. They shall now appear closed with a glorious robe of Christ's righteousness.

It shall be most manifest before the world that Christ's righteousness is theirs and they shall gloriously shine forth in it. Then shall their inherent holiness be made manifest and all good works be brought to light.

The good things which they did in secret shall now be manifested openly. Those holy ones of God who had been treated as a filth and off scouring of the earth as if not fit to live It's worse than beasts or devils shall now appear to have been the excellent of the earth.

Now God will bring forth their righteousness as a light and their judgment as a noonday. And now it shall appear who indeed were those wicked persons that were not fit to live. When all the wickedness of the enemies of Christ and his church their pride their malice of their cruelty their hatred of true Religion shall be set forth and all its horrid acts and in its proper colors.

And now the righteous may be heard before this great judge who cannot be heard before those unjust judges. Now they shall declare their cause and rise up in judgment against their persecutors and shall declare how they have been treated by them.

And now all the wickedness of the wicked shall be brought to light. Even all their secret wickedness and their very heart shall be open to view and as it were turned inside out Before the bright light of the great day.

The Sentences of Blessing and Condemnation

Things which have been spoken in the year in the closet and done in the dark shall be manifested in the light and proclaimed before angels and men. Section 5. The sentence shall be pronounced on the righteous and the wicked Christ the glorious judge shall pass that blessed sentence on the church at his right hand.

Come you blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. This sentence shall be pronounced with infinite love and the voice will cause every heart to flow with joy.

Thus Christ shall pronounce a sentence of justification On millions who before had a sentence of condemnation passed upon them by their persecuting rulers. He will thus put honor upon those who have been before despised.

He will own them for his and will put a crown of glory upon their heads before the world. And then shall they shine forth as a son with Jesus Christ in glory and joy in the sight of all their enemies and.

Then shall the sentence of condemnation be passed on the wicked. Deep heart he cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Thus shall the church's enemies be condemned. In which sentence of condemnation the holy martyrs who have suffered from them shall concur.

When the words of the sentence are pronounced they will strike every heart of those at the left hand with inconceivable horror and amazement. Every syllable of it will be more terrible than streams of lightning through their hearts.

What horrible shrieking? quaking gnashing of teeth distortions of countenance. Hideous looks hideous actions and hideous voices will be seen through all that vast Things and all the holy angels ministering to them shall leave this lower world and ascend towards the highest heavens.

Christ’s Ascension With the Redeemed Church

Christ shall ascend in his great glory as he descended and in some respects greater for now He shall ascend with his elect church with him glorified in body and soul. Christ's first ascension to heaven soon after his own resurrection was very glorious.

But this is second ascension with his mystical body. His whole church shall be far more glorious. The Redeemed Church shall all ascend with him in a most joyful and triumphant Manner and all their enemies and persecutors who shall be left behind to be consumed Shall see the sight and hear their songs and thus Christ Church shall forever leave this accursed world.

The Final Fire and Destruction of the World

To go into the highest heavens a paradise of God the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Section 7 when they are gone. This world shall be set on fire and be turned into a great furnace.

Wherein all the enemies of Christ and his church shall be tormented forever and ever. This is manifest by second Peter 3 7. But the heavens in the earth Which are now by the same word are kept in store Reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

When Christ and his church are ascended to a distance from this world That miserable company of the wicked being left behind to have their sentence executed upon them here. Then this lower world shall be set on fire Either from heaven or by fire breaking out of the bowels of the earth or both as it was with water in the time of the deluge.

However, this lower world shall be set all on fire. How will it strike the wicked with horror when the fire begins to lay hold upon them? And they find no way to escape from it. We're shrieking and crying will there be among those many millions when they begin to enter into this great furnace.

When the whole world shall be a furnace of the fiercest and most raging heat and so much that the Apostle Peter 2nd Peter 3 10 and 12 that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. And the element shall melt with fervent heat and the earth also.

And the words that are therein shall be burnt up and the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the element shall melt With fervent heat and so fear shall be its heat that it shall burn the earth into its very center.

Which seems to be what is meant to Deuteronomy 32 verse 22. For a fire is kindled in mine anger and shall burn unto the lowest hell and shall consume the earth with her. Increase and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

And here shall all the persecutors of the Church of God burn an everlasting Fire who had before burnt the Saints at the stake and shall suffer torments far beyond all that their utmost wit and malice can inflict on the Saints.

And Here the bodies of all the wicked shall burn and be tormented to all eternity and never be Consumed and the wrath of God shall be poured out on their souls. Though the souls of the wicked and hell do now suffer dreadful Punishment yet their punishment will be so increased at the day of judgment That what they suffered before is in comparison of it as an imprisonment to the execution Which follows it and now the devil that old serpent shall receive his full punishment.

Now that for fear of which he before trembled shall fully come upon him. This world which formerly used to be the place of his kingdom where he set up himself as God shall now be the place of his complete punishment a full and everlasting Torment.

And in this one design of the work of redemption. Putting Christ's enemies under his feet shall be perfectly accomplished. His enemies shall now be made his footstool in the fullest degree. Now shall be the most perfect fulfillment of Genesis 3 15.

The Church’s Eternal Blessedness

It shall bruise my head. Section 8. At the same time all the church shall enter with Christ their glorious Lord into the highest Heavens and shall enter on the state of their highest and eternal Blessedness and glory.

While the lower world which they have left under their feet is seized with the fire of God's Vengeance and flames are kindling upon it and the wicked are entering into everlasting fire. The whole church shall enter with their glorious head and all the holy angels Attending in a joyful manner into the eternal paradise of God the palace of the great Jehovah their Heavenly Father.

The gate shall open wide for them to enter and their Christ will bring them into his chambers in the highest sense. Here Christ will bring them and present them in glory to his father saying Here am I and the children which thou has given me as much as to say Here am I with every one of those whom thou gavest me from eternity to take the care of.

That they might be redeemed and glorified and to redeem whom I have done and suffered so much. And to make way for whose redemption I have for so many ages been accomplishing such great changes. Here they are now perfectly redeemed in body and soul.

I have delivered them from all the ill fruits of the fall and freed them from all their enemies. I have brought them all together into one glorious society and united them all in myself. I have openly justified them before all angels and men and here I have brought them all away from that accursed world where they have suffered so much and it brought them before thy throne.

I have done all that for them which thou has depointed me. I have perfectly cleansed them in my blood and here they are in perfect holiness Shining with thy perfect image. And then the father will accept of them own them all for his children and welcome them to the eternal and perfect Inheritance and glory of his house and will on this occasion give more glorious Manifestations of his love than ever before and will admit them to a more full and perfect enjoyment of himself.

Now shall be the marriage of the lamb and the most perfect since the commencement of the glorious times of the church on earth after the fall of Antichrist is Represented as a marriage of the lamb, but after this we read of another marriage of the lamb at the close of the Day of Judgment.

After the beloved disciple had given an account of the Day of Judgment Revelations 20 and 21 he gives an account that he saw of the holy city. The new Jerusalem prepares a bride adorned for her husband.

Christ shall bring his church into his father's house in heaven as his bride. Without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. The bridegroom and the bride shall then enter into heaven both having on their wedding robes attended with all the glorious angels and There they enter on the feast and joys of their marriage before the father.

They shall then begin an everlasting wedding day. This shall be the day of the gladness of Christ's heart wherein he will greatly rejoice and all the Saints shall rejoice with him. Christ shall rejoice over his bride and the bride shall rejoice in her husband in the state of her consummate and Everlasting blessedness of which we have a particular description in the 21st and 22nd chapters of Revelation.

But now all Christ's enemies will be perfectly put under his feet and he shall have his most perfect Triumph over sin and Satan and all his instruments and death and hell. Now shall all the promises made to Christ by God the father before the foundation of the world.

The promises of the covenant of redemption be fully accomplished. Christ shall now perfectly have obtained the joy set before him for which he undertook those great sufferings in the state of Humiliation, we may learn how happy a society the church of Christ is for all this great work is for them.

Christ undertook it for their sakes and for their sakes he carries it on. It is because he has loved them with an everlasting love for their sakes. He overturned states and kingdoms for their sakes. He shakes heaven and earth.

He gives men for them and people for their life. Since they have been precious in God's sight they have been honorable and Therefore he first gives the blood of his own son and then gives the blood of all their enemies many Thousands and millions all nations that stand in their way as a sacrifice to their good.

For their sakes he made the world and for their sakes he will destroy it for their sakes He built heaven and for their sakes he makes his angels ministering spirits. Therefore the Apostle says 1st Corinthians 3 21 and so on all things are yours.

Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come. All are yours. How blessed is this people who are redeemed from among men and are the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Who have God in all ages for their protection and help. Deuteronomy? 33 29. Happy art thou oh Israel who is like unto thee? Oh people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help and who is the sword of thy Excellency and thine enemy shall be found liars unto thee and thou shall tread upon their high places.

Let who will prevail now let the enemies of the church exalt themselves as much as they will. These are the people that shall finally prevail. The last kingdom shall finally be theirs. The kingdom shall finally be given into their hands and shall not be left to other people.

We have seen to what a blessed issue things shall finally be brought and what glory they shall arrive at and remain in possession of forever and ever. After all the kingdoms of the world are come to an end and the earth is removed.

And mountains are carried into the depth of the sea or where the sea was and this lower earth shall all be dissolved. Oh happy people and blessed society. Well, may they spend an eternity in praises and alleluias to him who has loved them and will love them to eternity.

The Misery of Those Without Christ

Lastly hence all wicked men all that are in a Christless condition may see their exceeding misery. You that are such whoever you are shall have no part or lot in this matter. You are never the better for any of these things.

Yeah. Your guilt is but so much of the greater and the misery you are exposed to so much the more dreadful. You are some of those against whom God and the progress of the work exercises so much manifest wrath.

Some of those enemies who are liable to be made Christ's footstool to be ruled with a rod of iron and to be dashed in pieces. You are some of the seed of the serpent to bruise the head of which is one great design of all this work.

Whatever glorious things God accomplishes for his church They will not be glorious to you. The most glorious times of the church are always the most dismal to the wicked and impenitent. Isaiah 66 verse 14 and so we find wherever glorious things are foretold Concerning the church.

They're terrible things are foretold concerning the wicked its enemies. So whatever has been in remarkable deliverance is wrought for the church. There has been also a remarkable execution of wrath on its enemies.

When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt at the same time He remarkably poured out his wrath on Pharaoh and the Egyptians when he brought them into Canaan by Joshua and gave them that good land.

He remarkably executed wrath upon the Canaanites when they were delivered out of their Babylonish captivity signal vengeance was inflicted on the Babylonians when the Gentiles were called and the elect of God were saved by the preaching of the Apostles Jerusalem and the persecuting Jews were destroyed in the most awful manner.

I. In the days of Constantine at the overthrow of Satan's visible kingdom and the downfall of Antichrist and at the Day of Judgment. In all these instances and especially in the last there have been or will be Exhibited most awful tokens of the divine wrath against the wicked God will indeed make use of you in this affair.

But it will be for the glory of his justice and not of his mercy. The enemies of God are reserved for the triumph of Christ's glorious power and overcoming and punishing them. You are some of those who shall be consumed with this accursed world after the Day of Judgment When Christ and his church shall triumphantly and gloriously ascend to heaven.

Therefore let all who are in a Christless condition Seriously consider these things and be not like the foolish people of the old world who would not take warning When Noah told them that the Lord was about to bring a flood of waters upon the earth.

Or like the people of Sodom who would not regard when Lot told them that God would destroy that city. It would not flee from the wrath to come and so we're consumed in that terrible destruction. And Now I would say to conclude my whole discourse on the subjects.

These things are faithful and true and blessed is he that keepeth these things. Behold Christ cometh quickly and his reward is with him to render to every man. According as his work shall be and he that is unjust shall be unjust still and He that is filthy shall be filthy still and he that is holy shall be holy still.

Blessed are they that do his commandments. That they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city for without her dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh the lie he that testifieth the things saith.

Surely I come quickly. Amen. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwaters revival books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available free and for sale in audio video and printed formats.

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You may also request a free printed catalog and remember that John Kelvin in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship. Commenting on the words of God which I commanded them not neither came into my heart from his commentary on Jeremiah 731 writes.

The Regulative Principle of Worship

God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions since he condemns by this one phrase I have not commanded them whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God.

For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies and attend not to his commands They pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the papists all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly Exercise themselves would fall to the ground.

It is indeed a horrible thing for the papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them as it is well known and as it manifestly appears.

Were they to admit this principle that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word They would be delivered from their deep abyss of air. The prophets words then are very important when he says that God had commanded no such thing and That it never came to his mind as though he had said that men assumed too much wisdom.

When they devise what he never required nay what he never knew.