Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God...byJonathan Edwards
PAGE 2
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
fastly 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.
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. 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 hath risen up and executed his awful
vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the
infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will God call upon the
whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to
be seen in it. Isa. 33:12-14. "And the people shall be as the
burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire. Hear
ye that are far off, what I have done; and ye that are near, acknowledge
my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the
hypocrites, " &c.
Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted state, if you
continue in it; the infinite might, and majesty, and terribleness of the
omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you, in the ineffable strength of
your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and when you shall be in this
state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth and
look on the awful spectacle, that they may see what the wrath and
fierceness of the Almighty is; and when they have seen it, they will fall
down and adore that great power and majesty. Isa. 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."
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 bom 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 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 generaity 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 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 Sodom:
"Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the
mountain, lest you be consumed."
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