| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"mort" |
| Date: |
09 Jun 2006 10:16:29 PM |
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Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God |
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," 8 July 1741
Occasion: Sermon preached at Enfield, Massachussets (later
Connecticut).
-Their foot shall slide in due time- Deut. 32:35
In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked
unbelieving Israelites, who were God's visible people, and who lived
under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all God's wonderful
works towards them, remained (as ver. 28.) void of counsel, having no
understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they
brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two verses next
preceding the text. The expression I have chosen for my text, Their
foot shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following doings,
relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked
Israelites were exposed.
1. That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or
walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in
the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by
their foot sliding. The same is expressed, Psalm 73:18. "Surely thou
didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into
destruction."
2. It implies, that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected
destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable
to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall
the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning:
Which is also expressed in Psalm 73:18, 19. "Surely thou didst set them
in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction: How are
they brought into desolation as in a moment!"
3. Another thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of
themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another; as he
that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own
weight to throw him down.
4. That the reason why they are not fallen already, and do not fall
now, is only that God's appointed time is not come. For it is said,
that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall
slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their
own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any
longer, but will let them go; and then at that very instant, they shall
fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining
ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go
he immediately falls and is lost.
The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this.
"There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell,
but the mere pleasure of God." By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his
sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation,
hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but
God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever,
any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment.
The truth of this observation may appear by the following
considerations.
1. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any
moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest
have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.-He
is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily
do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of
difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself,
and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is
not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defense from the
power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God's
enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in
pieces. They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or
large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it
easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so
it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs
by: thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down
to hell. What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at
whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown
down?
2. They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never
stands in the way, it makes no objection against God's using his power
at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls
aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of
the tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, "Cut it down, why
cumbereth it the ground?" Luke xiii. 7. The sword of divine justice is
every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the
hand of arbitrary mercy, and God's mere will, that holds it back.
3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do
not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of
the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that
God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and
stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John
iii. 18. "He that believeth not is condemned already." So that every
unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from
thence he is, John viii. 23. "Ye are from beneath." And thither be is
bound; it is the place that justice, and God's word, and the sentence
of his unchangeable law assign to him.
4. They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God,
that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do
not go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power
they are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many
miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the
fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great
numbers that are now on earth: yea, doubtless, with many that are now
in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many
of those who are now in the flames of hell.
So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and
does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them
off. God is not altogether such an one as themselves, though they may
imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them, their
damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made
ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now
rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and
the pit hath opened its mouth under them.
5. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own,
at what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him; he has their
souls in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture
represents them as his goods, Luke 11:12. The devils watch them; they
are ever by them at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like
greedy hungry lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are
for the present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand, by which
they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor
souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to
receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily
swallowed up and lost.
6. There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles
reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if
it were not for God's restraints. There is laid in the very nature of
carnal men, a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those
corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession
of them, that are seeds of hell fire. These principles are active and
powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the
restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they
would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same
enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same
torments as they do in them. The souls of the wicked are in scripture
compared to the troubled sea, Isa. 57:20. For the present, God
restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging
waves of the troubled sea, saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no
further;" but if God should withdraw that restraining power, it would
soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is
destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without
restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly
miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and
boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire
pent up by God's restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set
on fire the course of nature; and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so
if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into a
fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.
7. It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no
visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man,
that he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should
now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is
no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and
continual experience of the world in all ages, shows this is no
evidence, that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the
next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought-of ways
and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable
and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a
rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so
weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not
seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight
cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of
taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell, that there
is nothing to make it appear, that God had need to be at the expense of
a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to
destroy any wicked man, at any moment. All the means that there are of
sinners going out of the world, are so in God's hands, and so
universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination, that
it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God, whether
sinners shall at any moment go to hell, than if means were never made
use of, or at all concerned in the case.
8. Natural men's prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the
care of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment. To this,
divine providence and universal experience do also bear testimony.
There is this clear evidence that men's own wisdom is no security to
them from death; that if it were otherwise we should see some
difference between the wise and politic men of the world, and others,
with regard to their liableness to early and unexpected death: but how
is it in fact? Eccles. ii. 16. "How dieth the wise man? even as the
fool."
9. All wicked men's pains and contrivance which they use to escape
hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men,
do not secure them from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that
hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends
upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has
done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays
out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters
himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will
not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the
greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but
each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape
than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of
torment; he says within himself, that he intends to take effectual
care, and to order matters so for himself as not to fail.
But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their
own schemes, and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they
trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who heretofore
have lived under the same means of grace, and are now dead, are
undoubtedly gone to hell; and it was not because they were not as wise
as those who are now alive: it was not because they did not lay out
matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape. If we could
speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one, whether they
expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell ever to be
the subjects of that misery: we doubtless, should hear one and another
reply, "No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters
otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself: I
thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came
upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that
manner; it came as a thief: Death outwitted me: God's wrath was too
quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and
pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when
I was saying, Peace and safety, then suddenly destruction came upon me.
10. God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep
any natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no
promises either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation
from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace,
the promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea
and amen. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the
covenant of grace who are not the children of the covenant, who do not
believe in any of the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of
the covenant.
So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made
to natural men's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain and
manifest, that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion, whatever
prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of
obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction.
So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over
the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already
sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great
towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of
the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the
least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound
by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for
them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them,
and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up
in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no
interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be
any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take
hold of, all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary
will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.
APPLICATION
The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons
in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one
of you that are out of Christ.-That world of misery, that lake of
burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful
pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide
gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to
take hold of, there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is
only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of
hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things,
as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own
life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these
things are nothing; if God should withdraw his band, they would avail
no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person
that is suspended in it.
Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend
downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God
should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and
plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and
your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your
righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you
out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock.
Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear
you one moment; for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with
you; the creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption,
not willingly; the sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you
light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her
increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your
wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly serve you for
breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend
your life in the service of God's enemies. God's creatures are good,
and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve
to any other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so
directly contrary to their nature and end. And the world would spew you
out, were it not for the sovereign hand of him who hath subjected it in
hope. There are black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over
your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were
it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst
forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present, stays
his rough wind; otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction
would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like the chaff of the
summer threshing floor.
The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present;
they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet
is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and
mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that
judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the
floods of God's vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the
mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up
more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more
mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds
the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go
forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it
would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and
wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come
upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand
times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the
strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing
to withstand or endure it.
The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string,
and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it
is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God,
without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one
moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never
passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit
of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made
new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new,
and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of
an angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things,
and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of
religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is
nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment
swallowed up in everlasting destruction. However unconvinced you may
now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully
convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in the like
circumstances with you, see that it was so with them; for destruction
came suddenly upon most of them; when they expected nothing of it, and
while they were saying, Peace and safety: now they see, that those
things on which they depended for peace and safety, were nothing but
thin air and empty shadows.
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a
spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is
dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks
upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is
of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten
thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful
venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than
ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his
hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to
be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last
night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you
closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given,
why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but
that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given
why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of
God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending
his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a
reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.
O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace
of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that
you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and
incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell.
You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing
about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and
you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to
save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your
own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to
induce God to spare you one moment. And consider here more particularly
1. Whose wrath it is: it is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were
only the wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince, it
would be comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is
very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the
possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be
disposed of at their mere will. Prov. 20:2. "The fear of a king is as
the roaring of a lion: Whoso provoketh him to anger, sinneth against
his own soul." The subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince,
is liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human art can
invent, or human power can inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates
in their greatest majesty and strength, and when clothed in their
greatest terrors, are but feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in
comparison of the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and
earth. It is but little that they can do, when most enraged, and when
they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of the earth,
before God, are as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than
nothing: both their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath
of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible than theirs, as
his majesty is greater. Luke 12:4, 5. "And I say unto you, my friends,
Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more
that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear
him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell: yea, I
say unto you, Fear him."
2. It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often
read of the fury of God; as in Isaiah lix. 18. "According to their
deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries." So Isaiah
66:15. "For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots
like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with
flames of fire." And in many other places. So, Rev. 19:15, we read of
"the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." The words
are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, "the wrath of God,"
the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it
is "the fierceness and wrath of God." The fury of God! the fierceness
of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful must that be! Who can utter or conceive
what such expressions carry in them! But it is also "the fierceness and
wrath of Almighty God." As though there would be a very great
manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath
should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and
exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of
their wrath. Oh! then, what will be the consequence! What will become
of the poor worms that shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And
whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible,
inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk who shall
be the subject of this!
Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an
unregenerate state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger,
implies, that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds
the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so
vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is
crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will
have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear the executions of his
wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no moderation
or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind; he will have no
regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer
too much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond
what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is
so hard for you to bear. Ezek. viii. 18. "Therefore will I also deal in
fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though
they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them." Now
God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now
with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of
mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will
be in vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any
regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but
to suffer misery; you shall be continued in being to no other end; for
you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be
no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will
be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will
only "laugh and mock," Prov. 1:25, 26, &c.
How awful are those words, Isa. 63:3, which are the words of the great
God. "I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my
fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment." It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words
that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, vis.
contempt, and hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God
to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case,
or showing you the least regard or favour, that instead of that, he
will only tread you under foot. And though he will know that you cannot
bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not
regard that, but he will crush you under his feet without mercy; he
will crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled
on his garments, so as to stain all his raiment. He will not only hate
you, but he will have you, in the utmost contempt: no place shall be
thought fit for you, but under his feet to be trodden down as the mire
of the streets.
The misery you are exposed to is that which God will inflict to that
end, that he might show what that wrath of Jehovah is. God hath had it
on his heart to show to angels and men, both how excellent his love is,
and also how terrible his wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings have a mind
to show how terrible their wrath is, by the extreme punishments they
would execute on those that would provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that
mighty and haughty monarch of the Chaldean empire, was willing to show
his wrath when enraged with Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego; and
accordingly gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated
seven times hotter than it was before; doubtless, it was raised to the
utmost degree of fierceness that human art could raise it. But the
great God is also willing to show his wrath, and magnify his awful
majesty and mighty power in the extreme sufferings of his enemies. Rom.
9:22. "What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power
known, endure with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction?" And seeing this is his design, and what he has
determined, even to show how terrible the unrestrained wrath, the fury
and fierceness of Jehovah is, he will do it to effect. There will be
something accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful with a
witness. When the great and angry God hath risen up and executed his
awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually
suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will
God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and
mighty power that is to be seen in it. Isa. 33:12-14. "And the people
shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burnt
in the fire. Hear ye that are far off, what I have done; and ye that
are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid;
fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites," &c.
Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted state, if you
continue in it; the infinite might, and majesty, and terribleness of
the omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you, in the ineffable
strength of your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of
the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and when you shall be
in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go
forth and look on the awful spectacle, that they may see what the wrath
and fierceness of the Almighty is; and when they have seen it, they
will fall down and adore that great power and majesty. Isa. lxvi. 23,
24. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and
from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me,
saith the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of
the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not
die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an
abhorring unto all flesh."
4. It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it
to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible
misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a
boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and
amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any
deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know
certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of
ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless
vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have
actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is
but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be
infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such
circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a
very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and
inconceivable: For "who knows the power of God's anger?"
How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the
danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal
case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again,
however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be.
Oh that you would consider it, whether you be young or old! There is
reason to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing
this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery
to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit,
or what thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and
hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering
themselves that they are not the persons, promising themselves that
they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one,
in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery,
what an awful thing would it be to think of! If we knew who it was,
what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might all the
rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him!
But, alas! instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this
discourse in hell? And it would be a wonder, if some that are now
present should not be in hell in a very short time, even before this
year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit
here, in some seats of this meeting-house, in health, quiet and secure,
should be there before to-morrow morning. Those of you that finally
continue in a natural condition, that shall keep out of hell longest
will be there in a little time! your damnation does not slumber; it
will come swiftly, and, in all probability, very suddenly upon many of
you. You have reason to wonder that you are not already in hell. It is
doubtless the case of some whom you have seen and known, that never
deserved hell more than you, and that heretofore appeared as likely to
have been now alive as you. Their case is past all hope; they are
crying in extreme misery and perfect despair; but here you are in the
land of the living and in the house of God, and have an opportunity to
obtain salvation. What would not those poor damned hopeless souls give
for one day's opportunity such as you now enjoy!
And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has
thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying
with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to
him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from
the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same
miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with
their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed
them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the
glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see
so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so
many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to
mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you
rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as
the souls of the people at Suffield*, where they are flocking from day
to day to Christ?
Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not
to this day born again? and so are aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel, and have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure
up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh, sirs, your case, in an especial
manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is
extremely great. Do you not see how generally persons of your years are
passed over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful
dispensation of God's mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and
awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath
of the infinite God.-And you, young men, and young women, will you
neglect this precious season which you now enjoy, when so many others
of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities, and flocking to
Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if
you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those persons who
spent all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a
dreadful pass in blindness and hardness. And you, children, who are
unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell, to bear
the dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and
every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when
so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the
holy and happy children of the King of kings?
And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit
of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young
people, or little children, now harken to the loud calls of God's word
and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great
favours to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to
others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a
day as this, if they neglect their souls; and never was there so great
danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and
blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect
in all parts of the land; and probably the greater part of adult
persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little
time, and that it will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the
Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days; the election will obtain,
and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you
will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was
born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will
wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now
undoubtedly it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axe
is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every
tree which brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down and cast into
the fire.
Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from
the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging
over a great part of this congregation: Let every one fly out of Sodom:
"Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the
mountain, lest you be consumed."
.
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| User: "Robibnikoff" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God |
12 Jun 2006 08:33:04 AM |
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"mort" <mort_tyler@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1149909389.469384.258800@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," 8 July 1741
Occasion: Sermon preached at Enfield, Massachussets (later
Connecticut).
Why the hell would you post this to alt.atheism?
--
Robyn
Resident Witchypoo
Atheist ***** Extraordinaire
#1557
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| User: "Lars Eighner" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God |
10 Jun 2006 12:10:01 AM |
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In our last episode,
<1149909389.469384.258800@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, the lovely and
talented mort broadcast on alt.politics.homosexuality:
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," 8 July 1741
Occasion: Sermon preached at Enfield, Massachussets (later
Connecticut).
As ridiculous today as it was when it was required 8th grade reading!
--
Lars Eighner http://larseighner.com/ http:/myspace.com/larseighner
The best way to support the troops right now
is to take them out of hazard's way. -- U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William Odem (Ret.)
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| User: "Matt Silberstein" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God |
10 Jun 2006 12:36:21 PM |
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On Sat, 10 Jun 2006 00:10:01 -0500, in alt.atheism , Lars Eighner
<usenet@larseighner.com> in <slrne8kkta.13vt.usenet@goodwill.io.com>
wrote:
In our last episode,
<1149909389.469384.258800@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, the lovely and
talented mort broadcast on alt.politics.homosexuality:
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," 8 July 1741
Occasion: Sermon preached at Enfield, Massachussets (later
Connecticut).
As ridiculous today as it was when it was required 8th grade reading!
Ridiculous? I find it an amazingly powerful piece of writing and a
window into the mind set of the time. The image is amazing. Had no
affect on my religious views, but that is a different issue.
--
Matt Silberstein
Do something today about the Darfur Genocide
http://www.beawitness.org
http://www.darfurgenocide.org
http://www.savedarfur.org
"Darfur: A Genocide We can Stop"
.
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| User: "wbarwell" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God |
10 Jun 2006 09:46:10 PM |
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Matt Silberstein wrote:
On Sat, 10 Jun 2006 00:10:01 -0500, in alt.atheism , Lars Eighner
<usenet@larseighner.com> in <slrne8kkta.13vt.usenet@goodwill.io.com>
wrote:
In our last episode,
<1149909389.469384.258800@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, the lovely and
talented mort broadcast on alt.politics.homosexuality:
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," 8 July 1741
Occasion: Sermon preached at Enfield, Massachussets (later
Connecticut).
As ridiculous today as it was when it was required 8th grade reading!
Ridiculous? I find it an amazingly powerful piece of writing and a
window into the mind set of the time. The image is amazing. Had no
affect on my religious views, but that is a different issue.
There are still people out there believing in an angry god.
This is not new with Edwards, the OT god seems to
commonly be out of sorts, but his sermons kept that
idea alive and made it centerpiece of evangelical
thought in America.
I prefer a cosmic muffin god myself.
One that has taken anger managment courses.
--
"Its the hit dog what yelps."
- Mark Twain
Cheerful Charlie
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| User: "Matt Silberstein" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God |
11 Jun 2006 09:26:40 AM |
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On Sat, 10 Jun 2006 21:46:10 -0500, in alt.atheism , wbarwell
<wbarwell@mylinuxisp.com> in <128n0hj70qj9o64@corp.supernews.com>
wrote:
Matt Silberstein wrote:
On Sat, 10 Jun 2006 00:10:01 -0500, in alt.atheism , Lars Eighner
<usenet@larseighner.com> in <slrne8kkta.13vt.usenet@goodwill.io.com>
wrote:
In our last episode,
<1149909389.469384.258800@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, the lovely and
talented mort broadcast on alt.politics.homosexuality:
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," 8 July 1741
Occasion: Sermon preached at Enfield, Massachussets (later
Connecticut).
As ridiculous today as it was when it was required 8th grade reading!
Ridiculous? I find it an amazingly powerful piece of writing and a
window into the mind set of the time. The image is amazing. Had no
affect on my religious views, but that is a different issue.
There are still people out there believing in an angry god.
Yes, there are.
This is not new with Edwards,
Never suggested otherwise. I made a literary, not a theological,
comment.
the OT god seems to
commonly be out of sorts, but his sermons kept that
idea alive and made it centerpiece of evangelical
thought in America.
I prefer a cosmic muffin god myself.
One that has taken anger managment courses.
I am not sure what relationship there is between the nature of the god
and the nature of the followers.
--
Matt Silberstein
Do something today about the Darfur Genocide
http://www.beawitness.org
http://www.darfurgenocide.org
http://www.savedarfur.org
"Darfur: A Genocide We can Stop"
.
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| User: "John Baker" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God |
10 Jun 2006 01:58:37 AM |
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On 9 Jun 2006 20:16:29 -0700, "mort" <mort_tyler@yahoo.com> wrote:
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," 8 July 1741
Occasion: Sermon preached at Enfield, Massachussets (later
Connecticut).
-Their foot shall slide in due time- Deut. 32:35
You're a dozen different kinds of moron, do you know that?
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| User: "Barry OGrady" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God |
10 Jun 2006 06:53:06 AM |
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On 9 Jun 2006 20:16:29 -0700, "mort" <mort_tyler@yahoo.com> wrote:
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," 8 July 1741
Occasion: Sermon preached at Enfield, Massachussets (later
Connecticut).
God must be angry at himself, and frustrated at being so stupid.
If only God could take advice from his betters.
Barry
=====
Home page
http://members.iinet.net.au/~barry.og
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| User: "Pastor Kutchie" |
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| Title: Moonwalking: A Bible prophecy fulfilled |
10 Jun 2006 01:31:46 AM |
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mort wrote:
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," 8 July 1741
Occasion: Sermon preached at Enfield, Massachussets (later
Connecticut).
-Their foot shall slide in due time- Deut. 32:35
Unless, of course, Michael Jackson read that passage first.
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| User: "Bretts Ghost" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God |
10 Jun 2006 10:59:26 AM |
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mort wrote:
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," 8 July 1741
Occasion: Sermon preached at Enfield, Massachussets (later
Connecticut).
God is angry with me? LOL. What fricken balls. I'm the one who should
be angry at that rotten *****. The only reason I ain't is cuz he
doesn't exist.
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