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“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is a sermon preached by Jonathan Edwards on several occasions, most notably on July 8, 1741, in Enfield, Connecticut. On that day, this sermon led to profound conviction and repentance among the listeners, resulting in many individuals embracing faith in Christ. It stands out as the most renowned sermon of the initial Great Awakening and holds a significant place in Christian history.
The sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” takes Deuteronomy 32:35 as its foundation, focusing on the phrase “their foot shall slide in due time.” The core message can be summarized as follows: “Only God’s mercy prevents people from descending into hell, and that mercy can be withdrawn at any moment.” Through vivid depictions of hell and the precarious nature of life, Jonathan Edwards aimed to compel individuals to contemplate the reality of their eternal fate and make a decision to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is undeniably a “hellfire and brimstone” sermon. Some may question this approach to evangelism, finding it offensive to frighten individuals into trusting in Christ. Nevertheless, hell is depicted as a dreadful place (Revelation 20:10-15). Many fail to grasp the urgency of their need for salvation (“For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, And in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”) (2 Corinthians 6:2). There is a suitable time and context for a sermon like “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” which, along with similar sermons, played a pivotal role in the first Great Awakening.
ThThe complete text of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God can be found below:
SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD
“Their foot shall slide in due time.” «To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; Their foot shall slide in due time: For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that shall come upon them make haste. », (Deuteronomy 32:35)
In this verse, the vengeance of God is threatened against the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God’s visible people and lived under the means of grace. Despite all of God’s wonderful works towards them, they remained (as verse 28) void of counsel, lacking understanding. Despite all the blessings from heaven, they produced bitter and poisonous fruit, as seen in the two verses preceding the text. The phrase I have selected for my text, “Their foot shall slide in due time,” appears to suggest the following actions concerning the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.
1. They were always at risk of destruction, just as someone standing or walking in slippery places is always at risk of falling. This is implied in the way their destruction came upon them, depicted as their foot sliding. This idea is also conveyed in Psalm 73:18, “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou casted them down into destruction.”
2. It suggests that they were constantly exposed to sudden, unexpected destruction. Like someone walking in slippery places who is liable to fall at any moment, they could not predict whether they would stand or fall the next moment. And when they did fall, it happened instantly without warning. This concept is also expressed in Psalm 73:18-19, “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou casted them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!”
3. Another implication is that they are prone to fall on their own, without being pushed down by others.
Hand of another; as he who stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.
4. That the reason why they have not fallen already, and do not fall now, is only that God’s appointed time has 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 uphold them in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he who stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost.
The observation from the words that I would now emphasize 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 anyone 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 encounters a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has fortified himself and has become strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that offers any defense from the power of God. Though hand joins 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.
1. They are like dry stubble before consuming flames. It is effortless for us to step on and crush a worm crawling on the ground; likewise, it is simple for us to cut or burn a slender thread that something hangs by. In the same way, it is effortless for God, when He chooses, to cast His enemies down to hell. Who are we to assume we can stand before Him? At His rebuke, the earth quakes, and rocks are hurled down.
2. They merit being cast into hell; divine justice never hinders God from using His power at any moment to annihilate them. On the contrary, justice demands an infinite punishment for their sins. Divine justice decrees the tree bearing such grapes of Sodom, “Cut it down, why does it clutter the ground?” (Luke 13:7). The sword of divine justice hangs over their heads every moment, restrained only by arbitrary mercy and God’s will.
3. They are already sentenced to hell. They not only deserve to be cast there but are condemned by God’s law, the eternal and unchanging standard of righteousness between Him and humanity. The law is against them, binding them over to hell. (John 3:18) “He who does not believe is condemned already.” Every unconverted person rightfully belongs in hell; it is their place. (John 8:23) “You are from beneath.” Justice, God’s word, and His unalterable law assign hell as their destination.
4. They are currently the targets of the same anger and wrath of God seen in the torments of hell. The reason they do not descend to hell instantly is not that God, in whose power they exist, is not exceedingly angry with them at that moment. He is as furious with them as He is with the wretched souls tormented in hell, enduring the full force of His wrath. Indeed, God is far angrier with them than we can imagine.
With great numbers now on earth: indeed, many in this congregation may be more at ease than many in the flames of hell.
Therefore, it is not because God is forgetful of their wickedness and does not resent it that He does not unleash His hand to cut them off. God is not entirely like them, even though they may perceive Him to be so. God’s wrath is kindled against them, their damnation is not asleep; the pit is ready, the fire is prepared, the furnace is hot and waiting to receive them; the flames rage and glow. The sharp sword is sharpened and poised over them, and the pit has opened its mouth beneath them.
5. The devil is poised to attack and claim them as his own, whenever God allows it. They are his; he possesses their souls and rules over them. Scripture portrays them as his possessions (Luke 6:12). The devils observe them; they are constantly beside them on their right hand; they wait for them like hungry lions eyeing their prey, anticipating it, but are currently held back. If God were to remove His restraining hand, they would instantly pounce on their helpless souls. The old serpent is ready for them; hell eagerly awaits to engulf them; and if God were to allow it, they would swiftly be swallowed up and lost.
6. Within the souls of wicked men, there are hellish principles reigning that would quickly ignite into hellfire if not for God’s restraints. Carnal men’s very nature contains a foundation for hell’s torments. Corrupt principles reign in them, fully possessing them, serving as seeds of hellfire. These principles are active and potent, extremely violent in nature, and if not for God’s restraining hand, they would soon erupt, flaming out in the same way as the sinner’s.
Same corruptions, the same enmity stirs in the hearts of damned souls, and would produce the same torments as they experience. The souls of the wicked are likened to the troubled sea in scripture, Isaiah 57:20. For now, God holds back their wickedness by His mighty power, just as He calms the raging waves of the troubled sea, declaring, “Here you may come, but no further.” However, if God were to remove that restraining power, chaos would quickly ensue. Sin is the downfall and wretchedness of the soul; it is inherently destructive, and if left unrestrained by God, nothing else would be necessary to render the soul utterly wretched. The corruption of the human heart is immoderate and boundless in its fury; while wicked men dwell on earth, it is akin to fire confined by God’s restraints. If unleashed, it would ignite the very fabric of nature. As the heart currently serves as a cesspool of sin, if sin were unrestrained, it would promptly transform the soul into a blazing furnace or a pit of fire and brimstone.
7. Wicked men have no guarantee for even a moment that there are no imminent threats of death. It offers no assurance to a worldly individual that they are presently healthy, and that they do not foresee any imminent departure from the world due to unforeseen circumstances, with no apparent danger in their situation. Throughout history, the repeated and diverse occurrences demonstrate that this does not signify that a person is not teetering on the edge of eternity, with the next step leading into another realm. The unseen, unimaginable ways in which individuals suddenly depart from the world are countless. Unconverted men tread over the abyss of hell on a fragile covering, with numerous spots in this veneer so feeble that they cannot support their weight, yet remain unseen. The darts of death soar unnoticed in broad daylight; even the keenest eyes cannot perceive them. God employs countless inscrutable methods to remove wicked men from 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? Ecclesiastes 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. Everyone 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 o
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 strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who previously lived under the same means of grace and are now deceased undoubtedly went to hell. It was not because they lacked wisdom compared to those currently alive; it was not because they did not plan well to secure their escape. If we could speak with them and ask them individually whether they expected, when alive and hearing about hell, to be the subjects of that misery, we would undoubtedly hear some reply, “No, I never intended to come here. I had different plans in mind; I thought I would arrange things well for myself. I believed my scheme was good. I meant to take effective care, but it caught me off guard; I did not anticipate it at that time and in that manner; it came like a thief. Death outsmarted me; God’s wrath was too swift for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was deluding myself, indulging in vain dreams of what I would do in the future; and when I was proclaiming, Peace and safety, then suddenly destruction befell me.
God has not obligated himself by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell for even a moment. God has certainly not made promises of eternal life or any deliverance from eternal death, except those contained in the covenant of grace, the promises given in Christ, in whom all promises are fulfilled. Those who are not children of the covenant, who do not believe in any promises, and have no connection to the Mediator of the covenant, surely have no claim to the promises of the covenant of grace.
Therefore, whatever some have imagined or claimed about promises made to natural men who earnestly seek and knock, it is evident that whatever efforts.
A natural man engages in religion, no matter what prayers he offers, until he accepts Christ, God is not obligated to prevent him from eternal damnation.
Therefore, natural men are held by God over the pit of hell; they have merited the fiery pit and are already condemned to it; God is greatly angered, his wrath is as intense towards them as towards those suffering in hell, and they have done nothing to appease or lessen that anger, nor is God bound by any promise to sustain them for a moment; the devil awaits them, hell hungers for them, the flames surround and threaten them, eager to consume them; the fire within their hearts struggles to burst forth: they have no mediator to intercede for them, no accessible means to secure them. In essence, they have no refuge, nothing to grasp onto, their preservation every moment depends solely on the arbitrary will and unobligated forbearance of an enraged God.
APPLICATION
The purpose of this solemn topic is to awaken unconverted individuals in this assembly. What you have just heard applies to each one of you who are not in Christ.—That realm of torment, that lake of fiery sulfur, looms beneath you. There lies the dreadful pit of God’s burning wrath; hell’s gaping mouth is wide open; you have no foundation to stand on, nothing to cling to, there is nothing shielding you from hell except the air; it is solely God’s power and pleasure that sustains you.
You may not be aware of this; you realize you are being kept from hell, but fail to recognize God’s hand in it; instead, you attribute it to other factors, such as your good health, your self-preservation instincts, and the measures you take to safeguard yourself. However, these things are insignificant; if God were to
Should God withdraw His hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling than the thin air to hold up a person suspended in it.
Your wickedness makes you as heavy as lead, tending downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell. If God were to let you go, you would immediately sink, swiftly descend, and plunge into the bottomless gulf. Your healthy constitution, care, prudence, 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 its 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, not to subserve any other purpose. They groan when abused for purposes contrary to their nature and end. The world would spew you out were it not for the sovereign hand of Him who has subjected it in hope. Black clouds of God’s wrath now hang directly over your heads, full of a dreadful storm and big with thunder. 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 i
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, 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. However, your guilt is constantly increasing in the meantime, and you are treasuring up more wrath every day. The waters are continually rising and growing mightier; only the mere pleasure of God holds back the waters that are eager to flow. If God were to withdraw his hand from the floodgate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of God’s fierceness and wrath would rush forth with inconceivable fury, coming upon you with omnipotent power. Even if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, or even ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest devil in hell, it would be insufficient to withstand or endure it.
The bow of God’s wrath is bent, the arrow made ready on the string, and justice aims the arrow at your heart, straining the bow. It is only the pleasure of an angry God, without any promise or obligation, that prevents the arrow from being released and drenched in your blood for a single moment. Therefore, all of you who have never undergone a profound change of heart,
by the mighty power of the Spirit of God on your souls; all of you who have never been born again, transformed into new creatures, raised from spiritual death to a state of new, previously unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God. No matter how much you may have reformed your life in various ways, or had religious affections, or maintained a form of religion in your families, private devotions, and in the house of God, it is solely God’s pleasure that prevents you from being instantly consumed in eternal damnation. Even if you remain unconvinced, the reality is that the wrath of God burns against you like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire.
You may now be convinced of the truth of what you hear; soon you will be fully persuaded of it. Those who have experienced similar circumstances to yours see that it was the same for them; destruction suddenly befell most of them when they least expected it, while they were proclaiming peace and safety. Now they realize that the things they relied on for peace and safety were merely illusions and empty shadows.
The God who holds you over the pit of hell, much like one holds a spider or some repulsive insect over the fire, detests you and is greatly angered. His wrath toward you burns like fire; he views you as deserving nothing but to be thrown into the fire. His eyes are too pure to tolerate your presence; you are far more abhorrent in his sight than the most loathsome venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him far more than even the most defiant rebel has offended his ruler, yet it is solely his hand that prevents you from plunging into the fire at any moment. It is only because of his intervention that you did not descend into hell last night, that you were allowed to wake up in this world after falling asleep. The only explanation for why you have not descended into hell since waking up this morning is that God’s hand has upheld you. There is no other explanation for why you have not been consigned to hell while sitting here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes with your sinful and wicked behavior during his solemn worship. Indeed, there is no other reason why you are not at this very moment plummeting into hell.
Oh, sinner! Reflect on the grave peril you are in: it is a fierce furnace of wrath, a vast and unfathomable pit filled with the fire of wrath, over which you are suspended in the hand of that God whose wrath is as provoked and incensed against you as it is against many of the damned in hell. You are hanging by a fragile thread, with the flames of divine wrath swirling around 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. Proverbs 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 to 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 are to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings is as much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke 12:4-5, “And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him.”
2. It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God; as in Isaiah 59:18, “According to their deeds, accord
Indeed, he will repay fury to his adversaries.” So Isaiah 66:15. “For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.” And in many other places. So, Revelation 24:15, we read of “the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” The words are exceedingly 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 who 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 disproportionate 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 for 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 is necessary.
At strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear. Ezekiel 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,” Proverbs 1:25-26.
How awful are those words, Isaiah 63:3, which are the words of the great God. “I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.” It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, vis. contempt, and hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or 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
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 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. Romans 9:22, “What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endure with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?” And seeing this is his design, and what he has determined, even to show how terrible the unrestrained wrath, the fury and fierceness of Jehovah is, he will do it to effect. There will be something accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful with a witness. When the great and angry God 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. Isaiah 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 has surprised the hypocrites.”
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.
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 are in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth and behold the awe-inspiring spectacle, so they may witness the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty; and having seen it, they will prostrate themselves and worship that great power and majesty. Isaiah 66:23-24 states, “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
4. It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God for one moment; but you must endure it for all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisitely horrible misery. As you look ahead, you will see an endless forever, a boundless duration before you, which will engulf your thoughts and astonish your soul; and you will utterly despair of ever experiencing any deliverance, any end, any relief, any rest at all. You will know for certain that you must endure for countless ages, millions upon millions of ages, grappling and contending with this almighty, merciless vengeance; and then, after you have done so, after so many ages have passed in this manner, you will realize that all that has transpired is but a speck compared to what lies ahead. Thus, your punishment will truly be infinite. Oh, who can articulate what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! Everything we can possibly convey about it only offers a feeble, faint glimpse of it; it is indescribable and unimaginable. For “who knows the power of God’s anger?”
How dreadful is the state of those who are daily and hourly in peril 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, no matter how moral, strict, sober, or religious they may otherwise be. Oh, that you would consider it, whether you are young or old! There is reason to believe that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse who will indeed experience this misery for eternity. We do not know who they are, where they sit, or what thoughts they have. They may be at ease now, listening without much disturbance, perhaps convincing themselves that they will escape. If we knew that even one person in the entire congregation was destined for this misery, it would be a dreadful thought. If we knew their identity, it would be a terrible sight to witness. How sorrowful and bitter a cry the rest of the congregation would raise for that individual! However, instead of just one, how many are likely to recall this discourse in hell? It would not be surprising if some who are present now find themselves in hell very soon, possibly even before the year ends. It would not be unexpected if some individuals sitting here today, seemingly healthy, calm, and secure, end up there by tomorrow morning. Those of you who persist in a natural state, thinking you will avoid hell the longest, will soon find yourselves there! Your damnation is not idle; it will come swiftly and, most likely, suddenly for many of you. You should be amazed that you are not already in hell. Undoubtedly, there are some you have known who never deserved hell more than you, and who seemed as likely to be alive today as you are. Their situation is beyond hope; they are suffering in extreme misery and utter despair. Yet here you are, alive and in God’s house, with an opportunity to find salvation.
ion. What would those poor damned hopeless souls not 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 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 who were very recently in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love for 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 on 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 (a town in the area), 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 treasured up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh, sirs, your case, in an especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart are 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 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 that 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 will soon be the same for those individuals who wasted their youth in sin and now find themselves in a state of blindness and hardness. And you, young ones who have not yet turned to God, do you realize that you are heading towards hell, to face the fierce anger of God who is displeased with you every day and night? Will you be satisfied being the offspring of the devil, while many other children in the country have converted and become the righteous and joyful children of the Almighty?
Everyone who is still not in Christ, teetering over the edge of hell, whether old or young, listen now to the clear calls of God’s word and actions. This period of God’s favor, a time of great blessings for some, will undoubtedly bring about severe punishment for others. Hearts grow harder, and guilt escalates rapidly during such times; those who neglect their souls are at great risk of being abandoned to a hardened heart and a clouded mind. God appears to be swiftly gathering His chosen ones from all corners of the land, and it is likely that the majority of adults who will be saved are being brought in now, in a short span of time. It will be akin to the significant outpouring of the Spirit among the Jews in the days of the apostles; the chosen ones will be saved, while the rest will be left in darkness. If this happens to you, you will forever regret this day and wish you had never been born, to witness such a time of God’s Spirit being poured out, longing that you had perished before experiencing it. Undoubtedly, just as in the days of John the Baptist, the axe is poised to strike at the roots of the trees in an extraordinary manner, so that every tree failing to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
