There is no fortress that is any defence against the power of God. 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! Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins.
They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. 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, that, it may be, are at ease and quiet, than he is with many of those that are now in the flames of hell. God is not altogether such a one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened her mouth under them.
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 xi. 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.
There is laid in [Pg 82] 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. The souls of the wicked are in Scripture compared to the troubled sea, Isaiah lvii. 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.
It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand. This, divine providence and universal experience does also bear testimony to. As the fool. But the foolish children of men do miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in their confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The bigger part of those that 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 that are now alive; it was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape.
O 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. 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 [Pg 85] 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 that are not the children of the covenant, and that do not believe in any of the promises of the covenant, and have no interest in the Mediator of the covenant. In short they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.
The use may be of awakening to 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 lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. 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. And the world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign hand of him who hath subjected it in hope.
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, 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.
Why is Edwards God so angry? You just studied 5 terms! How did Jonathan Edwards view sin? What is the strongest image Edwards uses? What is the main message of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God? What analogy is made with the bow and arrow? How awful is it to be left behind at such a day? They are all worthy of salvation. 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 ….
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. This simile states that in the eyes of God, your sins make you as heavy as lead. This is in reference to an earlier theme that God is the force keeping all men from falling into hell.
This simile compares God preventing you from falling into hell with a man holding a scary insect over a fire. First, he knows that he is speaking to still faithfully strong Puritans. His fire and brimstone sermon served to keep those believers on the straight and narrow. Unconverted men [who] walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering.
He says that the Spirit of God will convince them. Hover for more information. More than anything else, Edwards wants his audience to be very afraid. To be precise, he wants them to be afraid of hell. In his famous sermon, Edwards is attempting to put the fear of God into his listeners so that they will see the error of their ways and repent of their sins. To frighten his listeners into seeking salvation. Edwards wanted his sermon to have a powerful effect; not just on his immediate audience, his congregation, but on everyone throughout the American colonies.
0コメント