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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 thou didst set them in slippery places; thou
castedst them down into destruction.”
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 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. Yea, on the contrary,
justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice
says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, “Cut it down,
why cumbereth it the ground?” Luke 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 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.
Application
The use of this awful subject may be for awakening
unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the
case of every one of you that are out of Christ. -- That world of misery,
that 
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.
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. 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.”
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 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 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.”
