Apprehending
Truth
Jonathan Edwards
(1703-1758)
Their foot shall slide
in due time.
-- Deuteronomy 32:35
In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on
the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God's visible people, and who lived
under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all God's wonderful works
towards them, remained (as vers 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 things, relating to the
punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.
1.
That
they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in
slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of
their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding.
The same is expressed, Psalm 72:18. "Surely thou didst set them in
slippery places; thou castedst them down into
destruction."
2.
It
implies, that they were always exposed to sudden
unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment
liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the
next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning: Which is also
expressed in Psalm 73:18,19. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery
places; thou castedst them down into destruction: How
are they brought into desolation as in a moment!"
3.
Another
thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being
thrown down by the hand of another; as he that stands or walks on slippery
ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.
4.
That
the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that
God's appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or
appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall,
as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these
slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very
instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery
declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let
go he immediately falls and is lost.
The observation from the words that I would now
insist upon is this. -- "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one
moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." -- By the mere pleasure
of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no
obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else
but God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any
hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment. -- The truth of this
observation may appear by the following considerations.
1.
There
is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's
hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist
him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. -- He is not only able to cast
wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince
meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to
fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers.
But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any 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?
2.
They
deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way,
it makes no objection against God's using his power at any moment to destroy
them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of
their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of
3.
They
are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly
deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that
eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and
mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are
bound over already to hell. John 3:18. "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 8:23. "Ye are from beneath:"
And thither he is bound; it is the place that justice, and God's word, and the
sentence of his unchangeable law assign to him.
4.
They
are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God,
that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do
not go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they
are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many miserable creatures
now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath.
Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers
that are now on earth: yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this
congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those who are
now in the flames of hell.
So that it is not
because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he
does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such an one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so.
The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit
is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive
them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held
over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.
5.
The
devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his
own, at what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him; he has
their souls in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture represents
them as his goods, Luke 11:12. The devils watch them; they are ever by them at
their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions that
see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back. If
God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one
moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell
opens its mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would
be hastily swallowed up and lost.
6.
There
are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would
presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God's
restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a foundation for
the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in
them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell fire. These
principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if
it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break
out, they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the
same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same
torments as they do in them. The souls of the wicked are in scripture compared
to the troubled sea, Isa. 57:20. For the present, God
restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of
the troubled sea, saying, "Hitherto shalt
thou come, but no further;" but if God should withdraw that
restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and
misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it
without restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly
miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in
its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God's
restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of
nature; and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it
would immediately turn the soul into fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and
brimstone.
7.
It
is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of
death at hand. It is no security to a natural man, that he is now in health,
and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the
world by any accident, and that there is no visible danger in any respect in
his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages, shows this is no evidence, that a man is not on the
very brink of eternity, and that the next step will not be into another world.
The unseen, unthought-of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the
world are innumerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of
hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so
weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The
arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot discern them.
God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the
world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear, that
God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary
course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man, at any moment. All the
means that there are of sinners going out of the world, are so in God's hands,
and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination, that
it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God, whether sinners
shall at any moment go to hell, than if means were never made use of, or at all
concerned in the case.
8.
Natural
men's prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care of others to
preserve them, do not secure them a moment. To this, divine providence and
universal experience do also bear testimony. There is this clear evidence that
men's own wisdom is no security to them from death; that if it were otherwise
we should see some difference between the wise and politic men of the world,
and others, with regard to their liableness to early and unexpected death: but
how is it in fact? Eccles. 2:16. "How dieth
the wise man? even as the fool."
9.
All
wicked men's pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they
continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from
hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself
that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he
flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he
intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid
damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that
his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that
the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each
one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others
have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment; he says within
himself, that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters so for
himself as not to fail.
But the foolish
children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in
confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a
shadow. The greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same
means of grace, and are now dead, are undoubtedly gone to hell; and it was not
because they were not as wise as those who are now alive: it was not because
they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape.
If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one, whether they
expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell, ever to be the
subjects of 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 sudden destruction
came upon me."
10.
God
has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man
out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises either of eternal
life, or of any deliverance or preservation from eternal death, but what are
contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given in Christ, in
whom all the promises are yea and amen. But surely they have no interest in the
promises of the covenant of grace who are not the children of the covenant, who
do not believe in any of the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of
the covenant.
So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended
about promises made to natural men's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain
and manifest, that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion, whatever
prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of
obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction.
So that, thus it is
that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have
deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully
provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually
suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have
done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the
least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for
them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and
would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own
hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator,
there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short,
they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every
moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.
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 take 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 hand, 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 the
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 on the summer threshing floor.
The wrath of God is
like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more,
and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream
is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose.
It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed
hitherto; the floods of God's vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in
the mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up
more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty;
and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds the waters back,
that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should
only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and
the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with
inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your
strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times
greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be
nothing to withstand or endure it.
The bow of God's wrath
is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at
your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of
God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that
keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you
that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the
Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new
creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before
altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the
hands of an angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things,
and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in
your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere
pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting
destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear,
by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in
the like circumstances with you, see that it was so with them; for destruction
came suddenly upon most of them; when they expected nothing of it, and while
they were saying, Peace and safety: now they see, that those things on which
they depended for peace and safety, were nothing but thin air and empty
shadows.
The God that holds you
over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over
the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns
like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the
fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten
thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous
serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn
rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from
falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you
was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep.
And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell
since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is
no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat
here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner
of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given
as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.
O sinner! Consider the
fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and
bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand
of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as
against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the
flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it,
and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to
lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing
of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to
induce God to spare you one moment. -- And consider here more particularly,
1.
Whose
wrath it is: it is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only the wrath of
man, though it were of the most potent prince, it
would be comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much
dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the possessions and lives of
their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere will. Prov. 20:2. "The fear of a king is as the roaring
of a lion: Whoso provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul." The subject that
very much enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to
suffer the most extreme torments that human art can invent, or human power can
inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates in their greatest majesty and
strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors, are but feeble,
despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and almighty Creator
and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can do, when most
enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of
the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than
nothing: both their love and their hatred is to be
despised. The wrath of the great King of kings, is as
much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke 12:4,5. "And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid
of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But
I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed,
hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him."
2.
It
is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the
fury of God; as in Isa. 59:18. "According to
their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries." So Isa. 66:15. "For behold, the Lord will come with
fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire." And in many other places. So,
Rev. 19:15, we read of "the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of
Almighty God." The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been
said, "the wrath of God," the words would have implied that
which is infinitely dreadful: but it is "the fierceness and wrath of
God." The fury of God! the fierceness of
Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful that must 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. 8:18. "Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not
spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud
voice, yet I will not hear them." Now God
stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some
encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is past, your
most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will be
wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will
have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery; you shall be continued
in being to no other end; for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to
destruction; and there will be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled
full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it
is said he will only "laugh and mock," Prov.
1:25,26,&c.
How awful are those
words, Isa. 63:3, which are the words of the great God. "I will tread them in mine anger, and will
trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,
and I will stain all my raiment." It is perhaps impossible to conceive
of words that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, viz.
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.
3.
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, Meshach, 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.
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. 66:23,24. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new
moon to another, and from one sabbath
to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith
the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that
have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their
fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."
4.
It
is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath
of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will
be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall
see a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up
your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever
having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know
certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling
and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have
so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you
will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will
indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such
circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very
feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: For
"who knows the power of God's anger?"
How dreadful is the state of those that are daily
and hourly in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is
the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born
again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh
that you would consider it, whether you be young or old! There is reason to
think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very
misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or
what thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all these
things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they
are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew
that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that was to
be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of! If
we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How
might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over
him! But, alas! instead of one, how many is it likely
will remember this discourse in hell? And it would be a wonder, if some that
are now present should not be in hell in a very short time, even before this
year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here, in
some seats of this meeting-house, in health, quiet and secure, should be there
before tomorrow 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
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
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 hearken to
the loud calls of God's word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord,
a day of such great favour 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
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