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29 Dec 2005 03:06:28 PM |
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Sinners in an angry God's hands |
SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD
by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Enfield, Connecticut
July 8, 1741
--Their foot shall slide in due time--
Deut. xxxii. 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.
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."
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!"
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.
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.
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 defence 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?
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.
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.
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.
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 xi. 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.
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. lvii. 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.
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.
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."
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.
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,
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. xx. 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 xii. 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."
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 lxvi. 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. xix. 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. i. 25, 26, &c.
How awful are those words, Isa. lxiii. 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. ix. 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. xxxiii. 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."
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: "andy" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in an angry God's hands |
29 Dec 2005 05:28:44 PM |
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Hello, stone!
Jeez - such a loving god..
Is it me or is the bible (and other scriptures) a reason to kill ? Double
standards I guess...
You wrote on 29 Dec 2005 21:06:28 GMT:
s> --Their foot shall slide in due time--
s> Deut. xxxii. 35
s> In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked
s> unbelieving Israelites, who were God's visible people, and who lived
s> under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all God's wonderful
s> works towards them, remained (as ver. 28.) void of counsel, having no
s> understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they
s> brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two verses next
s> preceding the text. The expression I have chosen for my text, Their foot
s> shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following doings, relating
s> to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were
s> exposed.
s> That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or
s> walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in
s> the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by
s> their foot sliding. The same is expressed, Psalm 73:18. "Surely thou
didst
s> set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction."
s> It implies, that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected
s> destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable
s> to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the
s> next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning: Which is
also
s> expressed in Psalm 73:18, 19. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery
places;
s> thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into
desolation as
s> in a moment!"
s> Another thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves,
s> without being thrown down by the hand of another; as he that stands or
s> walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him
s> down.
s> That the reason why they are not fallen already, and do not fall now, is
s> only that God's appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when
s> that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then
s> they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight.
s> God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will
s> let them go; and then at that very instant, they shall fall into
s> destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the
s> edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately
s> falls and is lost. The observation from the words that I would now
s> insist upon is this. "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one
s> moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." By the mere pleasure
s> of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by
s> no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if
s> nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any
s> respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one
s> moment.
s> The truth of this observation may appear by the following
s> considerations.
s> There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any
s> moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest
s> have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.-He is
s> not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do
s> it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to
s> subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made
s> himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with
s> God. There is no fortress that is any defence from the power of God.
s> Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God's enemies combine
s> and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as
s> great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of
s> dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and
s> crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to
s> cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by: thus easy is it
s> for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we,
s> that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth
s> trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?
s> They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands
s> in the way, it makes no objection against God's using his power at any
s> moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an
s> infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that
s> brings forth such grapes of Sodom, "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the
s> ground?" Luke xiii. 7. The sword of divine justice is every moment
s> brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary
s> mercy, and God's mere will, that holds it back.
s> They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not
s> only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law
s> of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has
s> fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands
s> against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John iii. 18.
s> "He that believeth not is condemned already." So that every unconverted
s> man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is, John
s> viii. 23. "Ye are from beneath." And thither be is bound; it is the
s> place that justice, and God's word, and the sentence of his unchangeable
s> law assign to him.
s> They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that
s> is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go
s> down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they
s> are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many miserable
s> creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness
s> of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers
s> that are now on earth: yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this
s> congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those
s> who are now in the flames of hell.
s> So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does
s> not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God
s> is not altogether such an one as themselves, though they may imagine him
s> to be so. The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not
s> slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now
s> hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The
s> glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened
s> its mouth under them.
s> The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at
s> what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him; he has their souls
s> in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture represents them
s> as his goods, Luke xi. 12. The devils watch them; they are ever by them
s> at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry
s> lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the
s> present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are
s> restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old
s> serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive them;
s> and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and
s> lost.
s> There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning,
s> that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not
s> for God's restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a
s> foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles,
s> in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are
s> seeds of hell fire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding
s> violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of
s> God upon them, they would soon break out, they would flame out after the
s> same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts
s> of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them.
s> The souls of the wicked are in scripture compared to the troubled sea,
s> Isa. lvii. 20. For the present, God restrains their wickedness by his
s> mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying,
s> "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;" but if God should withdraw
s> that restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the
s> ruin and misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature; and if God
s> should leave it without restraint, there would need nothing else to make
s> the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is
s> immoderate and boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it
s> is like fire pent up by God's restraints, whereas if it were let loose,
s> it would set on fire the course of nature; and as the heart is now a
s> sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the
s> soul into a fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.
s> It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no
s> visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man, that
s> he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should now
s> immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is no
s> visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and
s> continual experience of the world in all ages, shows this is no
s> evidence, that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the
s> next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought-of ways
s> and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and
s> inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten
s> covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that
s> they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The
s> arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot
s> discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking
s> wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell, that there is
s> nothing to make it appear, that God had need to be at the expense of a
s> miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy
s> any wicked man, at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners
s> going out of the world, are so in God's hands, and so universally and
s> absolutely subject to his power and determination, that it does not
s> depend at all the less on the mere will of God, whether sinners shall at
s> any moment go to hell, than if means were never made use of, or at all
s> concerned in the case.
s> Natural men's prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care
s> of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment. To this, divine
s> providence and universal experience do also bear testimony. There is
s> this clear evidence that men's own wisdom is no security to them from
s> death; that if it were otherwise we should see some difference between
s> the wise and politic men of the world, and others, with regard to their
s> liableness to early and unexpected death: but how is it in fact? Eccles.
ii.
s> 16. "How dieth the wise man? even as the fool."
s> All wicked men's pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell,
s> while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not
s> secure them from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of
s> hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself
s> for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what
s> he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in
s> his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he
s> contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will not fail. They
s> hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of
s> men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one imagines
s> that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have
s> done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment; he says
s> within himself, that he intends to take effectual care, and to order
s> matters so for himself as not to fail. But the foolish children of men
s> miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in confidence in
s> their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The
s> greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of
s> grace, and are now dead, are undoubtedly gone to hell; and it was not
s> because they were not as wise as those who are now alive: it was not
s> because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure
s> their own escape. If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one
s> by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear
s> about hell ever to be the subjects of that misery: we doubtless, should
hear
s> one and another reply, "No, I never intended to come here: I had laid
s> out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for
myself:
s> I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came
s> upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that
s> manner; it came as a thief: Death outwitted me: God's wrath was too
quick for
s> me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing
s> myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when I was
s> saying, Peace and safety, then suddenly destruction came upon me.
s> God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any
s> natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises
s> either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation from
s> eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the
s> promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and
s> amen. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant
s> of grace who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in
s> any of the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of the
s> covenant. So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about
s> promises made to natural men's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain
s> and manifest, that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion,
s> whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no
s> manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction.
s> So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over
s> the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already
s> sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great
s> towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of
s> the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the
s> least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound
s> by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for
s> them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them,
s> and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up
s> in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no
s> interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be
s> any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take
s> hold of, all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary
s> will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.
s> APPLICATION
s> The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons
s> in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one
s> of you that are out of Christ.-That world of misery, that lake of
s> burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful
s> pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide
s> gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to
s> take hold of, there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is
s> only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
s> You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of
s> hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as
s> the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life,
s> and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things
s> are nothing; if God should withdraw his band, they would avail no more
s> to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is
s> suspended in it.
s> Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend
s> downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should
s> let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge
s> into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own
s> care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness,
s> would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell,
s> than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock. Were it not for
s> the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment;
s> for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you; the creature
s> is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the
s> sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and
s> Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your
s> lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon;
s> the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of
s> life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God's
s> enemies. God's creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God
s> with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose, and groan when
s> they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and
s> end. And the world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign
s> hand of him who hath subjected it in hope. There are black clouds of
s> God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful
s> storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of
s> God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure
s> of God, for the present, stays his rough wind; otherwise it would come
s> with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you
s> would be like the chaff of the summer threshing floor.
s> The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present;
s> they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet
s> is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and
s> mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that
s> judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the
s> floods of God's vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean
s> time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more
s> wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more
s> mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds
s> the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go
s> forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it
s> would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and
s> wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come
s> upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand
s> times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the
s> strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing
s> to withstand or endure it.
s> The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string,
s> and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it
s> is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God,
s> without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one
s> moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never
s> passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit
s> of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new
s> creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and
s> before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an
s> angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and
s> may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in
s> your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but
s> his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in
s> everlasting destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth
s> of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Those
s> that are gone from being in the like circumstances with you, see that it
s> was so with them; for destruction came suddenly upon most of them; when
s> they expected nothing of it, and while they were saying, Peace and
safety: now
s> they see, that those things on which they depended for peace and safety,
s> were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.
s> The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider,
s> or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully
provoked:
s> his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of
s> nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to
s> bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more
s> abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in
s> ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel
s> did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from
s> falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing
s> else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered
s> to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And
s> there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell
s> since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up.
s> There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell,
s> since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by
s> your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is
s> nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very
s> moment drop down into hell.
s> O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace
of
s> wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you
s> are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and
s> incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You
s> hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about
s> it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you
s> have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save
s> yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own,
s> nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God
s> to spare you one moment. And consider here more particularly,
s> Whose wrath it is: it is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only
s> the wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince, it would be
s> comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much
s> dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the possessions and
s> lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at
s> their mere will. Prov. xx. 2. "The fear of a king is as the roaring of a
s> lion: Whoso provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul." The
s> subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to suffer
s> the most extreme torments that human art can invent, or human power can
s> inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates in their greatest majesty
s> and strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors, are but
s> feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and
s> almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that
s> they can do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of
s> their fury. All the kings of the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers;
s> they are nothing, and less than nothing: both their love and their
hatred is to
s> be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more
s> terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke xii. 4, 5. "And I
s> say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and
s> after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom
s> you shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast
s> into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him."
s> It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read
s> of the fury of God; as in Isaiah lix. 18. "According to their deeds,
s> accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries." So Isaiah lxvi. 15.
s> "For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a
s> whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of
s> fire." And in many other places. So, Rev. xix. 15, we read of "the wine
s> press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." The words are
s> exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, "the wrath of God," the
s> words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is
"the
s> fierceness and wrath of God." The fury of God! the fierceness of
s> Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful must that be! Who can utter or conceive what
s> such expressions carry in them! But it is also "the fierceness and wrath
s> of Almighty God." As though there would be a very great manifestation of
s> his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict,
s> as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and exerted, as men
s> are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh!
s> then, what will be the consequence! What will become of the poor worms
s> that shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart can
s> endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery
s> must the poor creature be sunk who shall be the subject of this!
s> Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an
s> unregenerate state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger,
s> implies, that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds
s> the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so
s> vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is
s> crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will
s> have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear the executions of his
s> wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no moderation or
s> mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind; he will have no
s> regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too
s> much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond what
s> strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so
s> hard for you to bear. Ezek. viii. 18. "Therefore will I also deal in
fury:
s> mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry
s> in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them." Now God
s> stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with
s> some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is
s> past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in
s> vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard
s> to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer
s> misery; you shall be continued in being to no other end; for you will be
s> a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be no other use
s> of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from
s> pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only "laugh and
s> mock," Prov. i. 25, 26, &c.
s> How awful are those words, Isa. lxiii. 3, which are the words of the
s> great God. "I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my
s> fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
s> stain all my raiment." It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words
s> that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, vis.
s> contempt, and hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God
s> to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or
s> showing you the least regard or favour, that instead of that, he will
s> only tread you under foot. And though he will know that you cannot bear
s> the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not regard
s> that, but he will crush you under his feet without mercy; he will crush
s> out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his
s> garments, so as to stain all his raiment. He will not only hate you, but
s> he will have you, in the utmost contempt: no place shall be thought fit
for you,
s> but under his feet to be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
s> The misery you are exposed to is that which God will inflict to that
s> end, that he might show what that wrath of Jehovah is. God hath had it
s> on his heart to show to angels and men, both how excellent his love is,
s> and also how terrible his wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings have a mind
s> to show how terrible their wrath is, by the extreme punishments they
s> would execute on those that would provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that
s> mighty and haughty monarch of the Chaldean empire, was willing to show
s> his wrath when enraged with Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego; and
s> accordingly gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated
s> seven times hotter than it was before; doubtless, it was raised to the
s> utmost degree of fierceness that human art could raise it. But the great
s> God is also willing to show his wrath, and magnify his awful majesty and
s> mighty power in the extreme sufferings of his enemies. Rom. ix. 22.
s> "What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known,
s> endure with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
s> destruction?" And seeing this is his design, and what he has determined,
s> even to show how terrible the unrestrained wrath, the fury and
s> fierceness of Jehovah is, he will do it to effect. There will be
s> something accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful with a
s> witness. When the great and angry God hath risen up and executed his
s> awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering
s> the infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will God call
s> upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power
s> that is to be seen in it. Isa. xxxiii. 12-14. "And the people shall be
s> as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the
s> fire. Hear ye that are far off, what I have done; and ye that are near,
s> acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath
s> surprised the hypocrites," &c. Thus it will be with you that are in an
s> unconverted state, if you continue in it; the infinite might, and
s> majesty, and terribleness of the omnipotent God shall be magnified upon
s> you, in the ineffable strength of your torments. You shall be tormented
s> in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and
s> when you shall be in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants
s> of heaven shall go forth and look on the awful spectacle, that they may
s> see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is; and when they have
s> seen it, they will fall down and adore that great power and majesty.
s> Isa. lxvi. 23, 24. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to
s> another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to
s> worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon
s> the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their
s> worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall
s> be an abhorring unto all flesh."
s> It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness
s> and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all
s> eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When
s> you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration
s> before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul;
s> and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end,
s> any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must
s> wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and
s> conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you
s> have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this
s> manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that
s> your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the
s> state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say
s> about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is
s> inexpressible and inconceivable: For "who knows the power of God's
anger?"
s> How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the
s> danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal
s> case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again,
s> however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh
s> that you would consider it, whether you be young or old! There is reason
s> to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this
s> discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all
s> eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what
s> thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all
s> these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves
s> that they are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall
s> escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole
s> congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful
s> thing would it be to think of! If we knew who it was, what an awful
s> sight would it be to see such a person! How might all the rest of the
s> congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! But, alas!
s> instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse in
s> hell? And it would be a wonder, if some that are now present should not
s> be in hell in a very short time, even before this year is out. And it
s> would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here, in some seats of
s> this meeting-house, in health, quiet and secure, should be there before
s> to-morrow morning. Those of you that finally continue in a natural
s> condition, that shall keep out of hell longest will be there in a little
s> time! your damnation does not slumber; it will come swiftly, and, in all
s> probability, very suddenly upon many of you. You have reason to wonder
s> that you are not already in hell. It is doubtless the case of some whom
s> you have seen and known, that never deserved hell more than you, and
s> that heretofore appeared as likely to have been now alive as you. Their
s> case is past all hope; they are crying in extreme misery and perfect
s> despair; but here you are in the land of the living and in the house of
s> God, and have an opportunity to obtain salvation. What would not those
s> poor damned hopeless souls give for one day's opportunity such as you
s> now enjoy!
s> And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has
s> thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying
s> with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to
s> him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from
s> the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same
s> miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with
s> their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them
s> from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of
s> God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many
s> others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many
s> rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn
s> for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest
s> one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the
s> souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking from day to day
s> to Christ?
s> Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to
s> this day born again? and so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
s> and have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath
s> against the day of wrath? Oh, sirs, your case, in an especial manner, is
s> extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely
s> great. Do you not see how generally persons of your years are passed
s> over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensation of
s> God's mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and awake thoroughly
s> out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite
s> God.-And you, young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious
s> season which you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are
s> renouncing all youthful vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially
s> have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will
s> soon be with you as with those persons who spent all the precious days
s> of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness
s> and hardness. And you, children, who are unconverted, do not you know
s> that you are going down to hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God,
s> who is now angry with you every day and every night? Will you be content
s> to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land
s> are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of
s> kings?
s> And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of
s> hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young
s> people, or little children, now harken to the loud calls of God's word
s> and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great
s> favours to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to
s> others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a
s> day as this, if they neglect their souls; and never was there so great
s> danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and blindness
s> of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts
s> of the land; and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever
s> shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it
s> will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the Spirit upon the Jews
s> in the apostles' days; the election will obtain, and the rest will be
s> blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse
s> this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a
s> season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you had
s> died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly it is, as
s> it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axe is in an extraordinary
s> manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree which brings not
s> forth good fruit, may be hewn down and cast into the fire.
s> Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from
s> the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging
s> over a great part of this congregation: Let every one fly out of Sodom:
"Haste and
s> escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest
s> you be consumed."
With best regards, andy. E-mail:
.
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| User: "Andrew W" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in an angry God's hands |
30 Dec 2005 05:16:35 PM |
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I am very impressed with your extensive and highly detailed knowledge of
God.
--
Andrew W.
Beware of invisible entities that coerce you into a life of worship and
sacrifice.
Beware of any being who offers you a gift in the form of death and
suffering.
Beware of any religion that makes free-mindedness a crime.
Free-mindedness is foolishness to those whose brains are perishing.
Religion Exposed!
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~ajwerner
.
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| User: "Jerry Patterson" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in an angry God's hands |
30 Dec 2005 05:48:21 PM |
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On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:16:35 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
I am very impressed with your extensive and highly detailed knowledge of
God.
JP
What is your definition of truth?
.. . .
Blessings,
Jerry
http://www.dslextreme.com/users/jerry53/
.
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| User: "Andrew W" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in an angry God's hands |
30 Dec 2005 09:15:05 PM |
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"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:slhbr1lbbb3cblq5ss427stkt7d3aptrqm@4ax.com...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:16:35 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
I am very impressed with your extensive and highly detailed knowledge of
God.
JP
What is your definition of truth?
To be honest I don't currently have a very good definition of truth.
However I have some ideas about truth being mostly paradigm related.
I believe that we all create our own reality, and that because we have a
connection to each other we also share to an extent a common reality (group
paradigm). Therefore I believe that truths are merely commonly held
concepts/props/parameters within a paradigm/reality.
Why do you ask?
--
Andrew W.
Beware of invisible entities that coerce you into a life of worship and
sacrifice.
Beware of any being who offers you a gift in the form of death and
suffering.
Beware of any religion that makes free-mindedness a crime.
Free-mindedness is foolishness to those whose brains are perishing.
Religion Exposed!
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~ajwerner
.
|
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| User: "Jerry Patterson" |
|
| Title: Re: Sinners in an angry God's hands |
01 Jan 2006 03:21:06 PM |
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On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:15:05 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:slhbr1lbbb3cblq5ss427stkt7d3aptrqm@4ax.com...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:16:35 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
I am very impressed with your extensive and highly detailed knowledge of
God.
JP
What is your definition of truth?
To be honest I don't currently have a very good definition of truth.
However I have some ideas about truth being mostly paradigm related.
I believe that we all create our own reality, and that because we have a
connection to each other we also share to an extent a common reality (group
paradigm). Therefore I believe that truths are merely commonly held
concepts/props/parameters within a paradigm/reality.
Why do you ask?
JP
I asked because all that was downloaded to me was your second last
post.
If your understanding of truth were correct, then civil laws could not
be enacted nor would they be enforceable because there would be an
infinite number of opinions. "Commonly held concepts would not exist.
All notions except those of material would be arbitrary.
.. . .
Blessings,
Jerry
http://www.dslextreme.com/users/jerry53/
.
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| User: "Andrew W" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in an angry God's hands |
01 Jan 2006 03:52:07 PM |
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"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:j4hgr11kvm1r2rc7073rpqeql9i2h2sldj@4ax.com...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:15:05 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:slhbr1lbbb3cblq5ss427stkt7d3aptrqm@4ax.com...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:16:35 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
I am very impressed with your extensive and highly detailed knowledge of
God.
JP
What is your definition of truth?
To be honest I don't currently have a very good definition of truth.
However I have some ideas about truth being mostly paradigm related.
I believe that we all create our own reality, and that because we have a
connection to each other we also share to an extent a common reality
(group
paradigm). Therefore I believe that truths are merely commonly held
concepts/props/parameters within a paradigm/reality.
Why do you ask?
JP
I asked because all that was downloaded to me was your second last
post.
If your understanding of truth were correct, then civil laws could not
be enacted nor would they be enforceable because there would be an
infinite number of opinions. "Commonly held concepts would not exist.
All notions except those of material would be arbitrary.
The reason civil laws can be enacted is because of centralisation of power
(the invention known as governments).
The people do have many different opinions but they are compelled for many
reasons to agree with the governments opinions.
Groups of people tend to go along just to get along, thus the group paradigm
of truth.
--
Andrew W.
Beware of invisible entities that coerce you into a life of worship and
sacrifice.
Beware of any being who offers you a gift in the form of death and
suffering.
Beware of any religion that makes free-mindedness a crime.
Free-mindedness is foolishness to those whose brains are perishing.
Religion Exposed!
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~ajwerner
.
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| User: "Jerry Patterson" |
|
| Title: Re: Sinners in an angry God's hands |
07 Jan 2006 06:14:23 PM |
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On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 08:52:07 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:j4hgr11kvm1r2rc7073rpqeql9i2h2sldj@4ax.com...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:15:05 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:slhbr1lbbb3cblq5ss427stkt7d3aptrqm@4ax.com...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:16:35 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
I am very impressed with your extensive and highly detailed knowledge of
God.
JP
What is your definition of truth?
To be honest I don't currently have a very good definition of truth.
However I have some ideas about truth being mostly paradigm related.
I believe that we all create our own reality, and that because we have a
connection to each other we also share to an extent a common reality
(group
paradigm). Therefore I believe that truths are merely commonly held
concepts/props/parameters within a paradigm/reality.
Why do you ask?
JP
I asked because all that was downloaded to me was your second last
post.
If your understanding of truth were correct, then civil laws could not
be enacted nor would they be enforceable because there would be an
infinite number of opinions. "Commonly held concepts would not exist.
All notions except those of material would be arbitrary.
The reason civil laws can be enacted is because of centralisation of power
(the invention known as governments).
The people do have many different opinions but they are compelled for many
reasons to agree with the governments opinions.
Groups of people tend to go along just to get along, thus the group paradigm
of truth.
JP
By virtue of what human resource does this agreement or acquiescence
exist?
.. . .
Blessings,
Jerry
http://www.dslextreme.com/users/jerry53/
.
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| User: "Andrew W" |
|
| Title: Re: Sinners in an angry God's hands |
07 Jan 2006 07:23:46 PM |
|
|
"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:r9l0s159dh4p5jvqevmr89qkeh0ger32ab@4ax.com...
On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 08:52:07 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:j4hgr11kvm1r2rc7073rpqeql9i2h2sldj@4ax.com...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:15:05 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:slhbr1lbbb3cblq5ss427stkt7d3aptrqm@4ax.com...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:16:35 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
I am very impressed with your extensive and highly detailed knowledge
of
God.
JP
What is your definition of truth?
To be honest I don't currently have a very good definition of truth.
However I have some ideas about truth being mostly paradigm related.
I believe that we all create our own reality, and that because we have a
connection to each other we also share to an extent a common reality
(group
paradigm). Therefore I believe that truths are merely commonly held
concepts/props/parameters within a paradigm/reality.
Why do you ask?
JP
I asked because all that was downloaded to me was your second last
post.
If your understanding of truth were correct, then civil laws could not
be enacted nor would they be enforceable because there would be an
infinite number of opinions. "Commonly held concepts would not exist.
All notions except those of material would be arbitrary.
The reason civil laws can be enacted is because of centralisation of power
(the invention known as governments).
The people do have many different opinions but they are compelled for many
reasons to agree with the governments opinions.
Groups of people tend to go along just to get along, thus the group
paradigm
of truth.
JP
By virtue of what human resource does this agreement or acquiescence
exist?
You don't need a human resource to agree or acquiesce.
I don't quite understand your question.
People just obey their government.
--
Andrew W.
Beware of invisible entities that coerce you into a life of worship and
sacrifice.
Beware of any being who offers you a gift in the form of death and
suffering.
Beware of any religion that makes free-mindedness a crime.
Free-mindedness is foolishness to those whose brains are perishing.
Religion Exposed!
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~ajwerner
.
|
|
|
| User: "Jerry Patterson" |
|
| Title: Re: Sinners in an angry God's hands |
08 Jan 2006 03:50:43 PM |
|
|
On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 12:23:46 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:r9l0s159dh4p5jvqevmr89qkeh0ger32ab@4ax.com...
On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 08:52:07 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:j4hgr11kvm1r2rc7073rpqeql9i2h2sldj@4ax.com...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:15:05 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
"Jerry Patterson" <jerry@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:slhbr1lbbb3cblq5ss427stkt7d3aptrqm@4ax.com...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:16:35 +1100, "Andrew W"
<removethis_ajwerner@optushome.com.au> wrote:
I am very impressed with your extensive and highly detailed knowledge
of
God.
JP
What is your definition of truth?
To be honest I don't currently have a very good definition of truth.
However I have some ideas about truth being mostly paradigm related.
I believe that we all create our own reality, and that because we have a
connection to each other we also share to an extent a common reality
(group
paradigm). Therefore I believe that truths are merely commonly held
concepts/props/parameters within a paradigm/reality.
Why do you ask?
JP
I asked because all that was downloaded to me was your second last
post.
If your understanding of truth were correct, then civil laws could not
be enacted nor would they be enforceable because there would be an
infinite number of opinions. "Commonly held concepts would not exist.
All notions except those of material would be arbitrary.
The reason civil laws can be enacted is because of centralisation of power
(the invention known as governments).
The people do have many different opinions but they are compelled for many
reasons to agree with the governments opinions.
Groups of people tend to go along just to get along, thus the group
paradigm
of truth.
JP
By virtue of what human resource does this agreement or acquiescence
exist?
You don't need a human resource to agree or acquiesce.
I don't quite understand your question.
People just obey their government.
JP
Each person is naturally endowed to seek truth, that is, what is in
their best interest. Most failures of that endowment results from a
short term perspective. Truth is of paramount importance. Your comment
seems to deal with other interests of the intellect.
.. . .
Blessings,
Jerry
http://www.dslextreme.com/users/jerry53/
.
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| User: "SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim" |
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| Title: Re: Sinners in an angry God's hands |
29 Dec 2005 06:25:07 PM |
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great stories about the "loving, caring" mas murdering, child-killing god
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