“Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of” (Resolution 22).
From one point of view this resolution is a crass display of hedonism and utter self-centeredness. Here Edwards almost sounds as if he would fit in with the modern terrorists who use violence to obtain bliss in heaven. However, there is far more here than meets the eye of the modern man who is not used to thinking through things but allows technology and others do that for him.
What does it mean to obtain happiness in the other world? This means that Edwards had an eternal view of things and was focused on doing all in light of that. While it does appear that this statement is self-centered, in the context of Edwardsean theology it is anything but selfish. In fact, this is as God-centered a statement as one could find when seen in its broader context. Remember that his first resolution was: “Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory and to my own good, profit, and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how ever so many and how ever so great.” To go along with that, his second resolution was: “Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can possibly avoid it.”
The fourth resolution shows that he desired what tended to the glory of God and only that. The first resolution shows the link between the glory of God and Edwards’ “own good, profit, and pleasure.” Edwards makes these things clear in his Miscellanies and other writings. If a person is sharing in the life of God, then that person is sharing in the joy that flows between the Father and the Son. If a person is sharing in that life and joy, that person will have and be growing in true pleasure. In other words, the pleasure that a person has in God is really the pleasure of God in Himself that He is sharing with those that are in Christ and that Christ is in. For Edwards to pursue the glory of God is for him to desire to share in the pleasure that God has in Himself.
We must also think through the issue of what it means to glorify God. Does man have the power and ability to exhibit the internal glory of God in and of himself? Rather, it is God that expresses His own internal glory and shines it through Christ to and in man so that His glory would shine through man. In this way, then, the true glory and beauty of God is only seen when He shares His beauty and glory by working it in human beings. In other words, a person that truly desires the glory of God must of necessity desire to enjoy God. It is only when a person is enjoying God and having pleasure in Him that a person is truly sharing in the life of God. It is then that God is working in that person the joy and pleasure He has in His own glory.
We can also capture the picture from one of Edwards’ sermons. In a series of sermons entitled Charity and its Fruits, there is a sermon on Heaven a World of Charity, or Divine Love. In this sermon heaven is pictured as an ocean of love. Each individual develops is or her capacity to receive love on earth. So the greater that our capacity is developed on earth to receive love, the more love that individual receives in heaven. In other words, each believer is taken and dipped into the ocean of divine pleasure and love when in heaven and will be as full of love as the capacity that has been developed will allow. In other words, to pursue the glory of God and even the desire to glorify Him for eternity is to pursue one’s pleasure in God because that is an expression and emanation of the glory of God in and through His people. To have the desire to glorify God both now and in eternity to the maximum degree is to desire that we share in God’s joy and pleasure in Himself both now and in eternity. That is how God glorifies Himself.
Yet Edwards does use the term “violence.” That does not mean that he is going to be violent to other people, but the violence refers to the force and activity on himself that he will be exerting in order to pursue the glory of God. Matthew 11:12 uses the same language: “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. It is a word that refers to force being exerted. Edwards was referring to himself and the force he was going to use on himself.
God Loves... Himself 
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