by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), at Enfield, Connecticut, on July 8, 1741.
"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 verse 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 you did set them in slippery places; you cast 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 you did set them in
slippery places; you cast 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 lack of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's
hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor
can any deliver out of his hands. -- He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but
he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of
difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself
strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress
that is any defense from the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes
of God's enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They
are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble
before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling
on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs
by: thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell. What are
we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and
before whom the rocks are thrown down?
2. They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it
makes no objection against God's using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yes, 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 cumbers it
the ground?" Luke 13:7. The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over
their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God's mere will, that
holds it back.
3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly
deserve to be cast down there, 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 believes not is condemned already." So that every unconverted man
properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is, John 8:23. "You are
from beneath:" And there 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. Yes, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth:
yes, 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 bums 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 has 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 shall you 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 me 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 people 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 dies 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 yes 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, until 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 people 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 has 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 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, until 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, yes, 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. Yes, 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:
Whosoever provokes him to anger, sins against his own soul." The subject that very
much enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human
are 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 has killed, has power to
cast into hell: yes, 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..
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, namely, 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 favor, 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 has 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 are could raise it. But the great God is
also willing to show his wrath, and magnify his awful majesty and mighty power in the
extreme sufferings of his enemies. Rom. 9:22. "What if God, willing to show his
wrath, and to make his power known, endured 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 has risen up and executed his awful vengeance on the poor
sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his
indignation, then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and
mighty power that is to be seen in it. Isa. 33:12-14. "And the people shall be as the
burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. Hear you that are far
off, what I have done; and you that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion
are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites, " etc..
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, says 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 forever, 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 people, 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 people, 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 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 generality people 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 people 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
hearken to the loud calls of God's word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord,
a day of such great favor 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 people 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 people 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."
