Application

APPLICATION.

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. 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 don't 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 Load, 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, that so is 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 doesn't willingly shine upon you to give you Light to serve Sin and Satan; the Earth doesn't willingly yield her Increase to satisfy your Lusts; nor is it willingly a Stage for your Wickedness to be acted upon; the Air doesn't 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 don't willingly subserve to any other Purpose, and groan when they are abused to Purposes so directly contrary to their Nature and End. And the World would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign Hand of him who has subjected it in Hope. There are the black Clouds of GOD's Wrath now hanging directly over your Heads, full of the dreadful Storm, and big with Thunder; and were it not for the restraining Hand of GOD, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign Pleasure of GOD, for the present, stays his rough Wind; otherwise it would come with Fury, and your Destruction would come like a Whirlwind, and you would be like the Chaff of the Summer threshing Floor.

The Wrath of GOD is like great Waters that are dammed for the Present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, 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 continually 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 are all you that never passed under a great Change of Heart, by the mighty Power of the SPIRIT of GOD upon your Souls; all 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, (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 Houses of GOD, and may be strict in it,) you are thus in the Hands of an angry 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 that they depended on 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 so abominable in his Eyes, as 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 were 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 haven't 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 don't 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 [reconstructed: here] more particularly several Things concerning that Wrath that you are in such Danger of.

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, that 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 provokes him to Anger, sins against his own Soul. The Subject that very much enrages an arbitrary Prince, is liable to suffer the most extreme Torments, that human 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, [reconstructed: whom] most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their Fury. All the Kings of the Earth before GOD, are as Grasshoppers, they are Nothing, and less than Nothing: Both their Love and their Hatred is to be despised. The Wrath of the great King of Kings, is as much more terrible than theirs, as his Majesty is greater. Luke 12:4-5. And I say unto you my Friends, be not afraid of them that kill the Body, and after that have no more that they can do: But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear; fear him, which after he has killed, has Power to cast into Hell; 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, accordingly he will repay Fury to his Adversaries. So Isaiah 66:15. For behold, the Lord will come with Fire, and with Chariots, like a Whirlwind, to render his Anger with Fury, and his Rebukes with Flames of Fire. And so in many other Places. So we read of GOD's Fierceness. Revelation 19:15. There 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 not only said so, but 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 not only said so, but 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 were wont to exert their Strength in the Fierceness of their Wrath. Oh! then what will be the Consequence! What will become of the poor Worm that shall suffer it! Whose Hands can be strong? And whose Heart 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. 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 only 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 only 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, etc.

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 namely, Contempt, and Hatred, and Fierceness of Indignation. If you cry to GOD to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful Case, or showing you the least Regard or 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.

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 provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and haughty Monarch of the Chaldean Empire, was willing to show his Wrath, when enraged with Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego; and accordingly gave Order, 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, endured with much Long-suffering, the Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destruction? And seeing this is his Design and what he has determined, to show how terrible the unmixed, 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. Isaiah 33:12, 13, 14. And the People shall be as the burning 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, etc.

Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted State, if you continue in it; the infinite Might, and Majesty and Terribleness of the OMNIPOTENT GOD shall be magnified upon you, in the ineffable Strength of your Torments: You shall be tormented in the Presence of the holy Angels, and in the Presence of the Lamb; and when you shall be in this State of Suffering, the glorious Inhabitants of Heaven shall go forth and look on the awful Spectacle, that they may see what the Wrath and Fierceness of the Almighty is, and when they have seen it, they will fall down and adore that great Power and Majesty. Isaiah 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 Forever, a boundless Duration before you, which will swallow up your Thoughts, and amaze your Soul, and you will absolutely despair of ever having any Deliverance, any End, any Mitigation, any Rest at all; you will know certainly, that you must wear out long Ages, Millions of Millions of Ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless Vengeance, and then, when you have so done, when so many Ages have actually been spent by you in this Manner, you will know, that all is but a Point to what remains. So that your Punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh who can express what the State of a Soul in such Circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble faint Representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: For who knows the Power of GOD's Anger?

How dreadful is the State of those that are daily and hourly in 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, 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, and quiet and secure, should be there before To-morrow 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 that heretofore 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 such Opportunity as you now enjoy!

And now you have an extraordinary Opportunity, a Day wherein CHRIST has flung the Door of Mercy wide open; and stands in the Door, 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 an happy State, with their Hearts filled with Love to Him, that 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 that have lived long in the World, that 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 generally 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 wake thoroughly out of Sleep; you cannot bear the Fierceness and Wrath of the infinite GOD.

And you that are 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, it will soon be with you, as it is with those Persons that spent away all the precious Days of Youth in Sin, and are now come to such a dreadful Pass in Blindness and Hardness.

And you Children, that are unconverted, do you not know that you are going down to Hell, to bear the dreadful Wrath of that GOD, that 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 everyone 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, that is a day of such great favor to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls. And never was there so great danger of such 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 outpouring 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 were 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 that brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Therefore, let everyone 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 everyone fly out of Sodom: Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.

APPLICATION.

This message may serve as an Awakening to unconverted people in this congregation. What you have heard is the condition of every one of you who is outside of Christ. That world of misery, that lake of burning sulfur, stretches out beneath you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of GOD. There is hell’s wide gaping mouth, open wide. You have nothing to stand on and nothing to grab hold of. There is nothing between you and hell but the air. It is only the power and sheer will of GOD that holds you up.

You are probably not aware of this. You know you are being kept out of hell, but you do not see the hand of GOD in it. Instead, you look at other things -- the good condition of your body, your own care for your life, and the steps you take to preserve yourself. But truly these things are nothing. If GOD were to withdraw His hand, they would do no more to keep you from falling than thin air would do to hold up a person suspended in it.

Your wickedness makes you, as it were, as heavy as lead, pressing downward with great weight toward hell. If GOD were to let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly plunge into the bottomless pit. Your healthy body, your own care and caution, your best plans, and all your righteousness would do no more to hold you up and keep you out of hell than a spider’s web would do to stop a falling rock. If it were not the sovereign will of GOD, the earth would not hold you for one moment, because you are a burden to it. Creation groans under you. The created world is subjected to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly. The sun does not willingly shine on you to give you light to serve sin and Satan. The earth does not willingly produce its crops to satisfy your sinful desires. It is not a willing stage for your wickedness to be performed on. The air does not willingly serve you for breath to keep the flame of life going in your body while you spend your life serving GOD’s enemies. GOD’s creatures are good and were made for people to use in serving GOD. They do not willingly serve any other purpose, and they groan when they are used for purposes so directly opposed to their nature and purpose. And the world would spit you out if it were not for the sovereign hand of the One who has subjected it in hope. There are the black clouds of GOD’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of a dreadful storm and heavy with thunder. If it were not for the restraining hand of GOD, the storm would immediately burst upon you. The sovereign will of GOD, for the present, holds back His fierce 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 up for the time being. They keep rising higher and higher until an outlet is given. The longer the stream is held back, the more rapid and powerful its flow when it is finally released. It is true that judgment against your evil works has not yet been carried out. The floods of GOD’s vengeance have been held back. But your guilt is constantly increasing in the meantime, and you are storing up more wrath every day. The waters are continually rising and growing more and more powerful. There is nothing but the sheer will of GOD that holds back the waters that strain to be released and push hard to rush forward. If GOD were to simply withdraw His hand from the floodgate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of GOD would rush out with unimaginable fury and come upon you with almighty power. Even if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is -- yes, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the mightiest, most powerful devil in hell -- it would be nothing against it.

The bow of GOD’s wrath is bent, and the arrow is fitted to the string. Justice aims the arrow at your heart and pulls the bow tight. It is nothing but the sheer will of GOD -- and that of an angry GOD, without any promise or obligation whatsoever -- that keeps the arrow from being released and made drunk with your blood at this very moment.

This is the condition of every one of you who has never experienced a great change of heart by the mighty power of the SPIRIT of GOD upon your soul -- all who were never born again and made new creatures, raised from being dead in sin to a state of new and previously unknown light and life. However much you may have reformed your life in many ways, however strong your religious feelings may have been, however carefully you may maintain a form of religion in your families and private devotions and in the house of GOD, and however strict you may be in it -- you are in the hands of an angry GOD. It is nothing but His sheer will that keeps you from being swallowed up in everlasting destruction at this very moment.

However unconvinced you may be right now of the truth of what you are hearing, sooner or later you will be fully convinced of it. Those who have already left circumstances like yours now see that this was true for them. Destruction came suddenly upon most of them when they expected nothing of it, while they were telling themselves, Peace and safety. Now they see that the things they depended on for peace and safety were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.

The GOD who holds you over the pit of hell, much as someone holds a spider or some disgusting insect over a fire, is repulsed by you and is terribly provoked. His wrath toward you burns like fire. He considers you worthy of nothing except to be thrown into the fire. He is too pure to stand having you in His sight. You are ten thousand times more disgusting in His eyes than the most hateful, poisonous snake is in ours. You have offended Him infinitely more than a stubborn rebel has ever offended his king. And yet it is nothing but His hand that keeps you from falling into the fire every moment. It can only be credited to Him that you did not go to hell last night -- that you were allowed to wake up again in this world after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason why you have not dropped into hell since you got up this morning except that GOD’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason why you have not gone to hell since you have been sitting here in the house of GOD, provoking His pure eyes by your sinful, wicked way of attending His solemn worship. Yes, there is nothing else to be given as a reason why you do not drop down into hell at this very moment.

O sinner! Consider the terrifying 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 burning against you as much as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a thin thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing around it, ready at any moment to burn through it. You have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to grab hold of to save yourself. You have nothing to keep off the flames of wrath -- nothing of your own, nothing that you have ever done, nothing that you can do -- to persuade GOD to spare you for one moment.

And consider here more specifically several things about the wrath that you are in such danger of.

1. Consider whose wrath it is: It is the wrath of the infinite GOD. If it were only the wrath of a man, even the most powerful ruler, it would be relatively small. The wrath of kings is greatly feared, especially that of absolute monarchs who hold the possessions and lives of their subjects entirely in their power, to do with as they please. Proverbs 20:2. The fear of a king is like the roaring of a lion; whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own soul. A subject who greatly enrages a tyrannical ruler can expect to suffer the most extreme torments that human skill can devise or human power can inflict. But the greatest earthly rulers, in all their majesty and strength, and dressed in their most terrifying authority, are nothing but feeble, insignificant worms of the dust compared to the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth. There is little they can do when most enraged and when they have exerted the full extent of their fury. All the kings of the earth before GOD are like grasshoppers. They are nothing -- less than nothing. Both their love and their hatred are to be disregarded. 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 to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to 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, He will repay fury to His adversaries. And 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 rebukes with flames of fire. And so in many other places. We also read of GOD’s fierceness. Revelation 19:15. There we read of the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty GOD. The words are extremely terrifying. If it had only said the wrath of GOD, the words would have described something infinitely dreadful. But it does not stop there -- it says the fierceness and wrath of GOD. The fury of GOD! The fierceness of JEHOVAH! Oh, how dreadful that must be! Who can express or even imagine what such words carry in them! But it does not stop there either -- it says the fierceness and wrath of ALMIGHTY GOD. As though there would be a tremendous display of His almighty power in what the fierceness of His wrath would inflict -- as though omnipotence itself were enraged and exerting itself, as people do when they pour out their strength in the fierceness of their fury. Oh! Then what will be the result! What will happen to the poor creature who suffers it! Whose hands can be strong enough? And whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, unimaginable depth of misery must the poor creature sink who becomes the subject of this!

Consider this, you who are here today and still remain in an unconverted state. When GOD executes the fierceness of His anger, it means He will pour out wrath without any pity. When GOD sees the unspeakable extremity of your condition and sees your torment so vastly beyond what your strength can bear -- when He sees how your poor soul is crushed and sinks down into what seems like an infinite darkness -- He will have no compassion on you. He will not hold back the execution of His wrath or lighten His hand in the slightest. There will be no restraint or mercy. GOD will not hold back His fierce wind. He will have no concern for your welfare, and He will not be at all careful that you should not suffer too much -- except only that you will not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing will be withheld because it is too hard for you to bear. Ezekiel 8:18. Therefore I will also deal in fury. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them. Right now GOD stands ready to pity you. This is a day of mercy. You may cry out now with some hope of receiving mercy. But once the day of mercy has passed, your most heartbreaking and agonizing cries and screams will be useless. You will be completely abandoned and cast off by GOD as far as any concern for your welfare. GOD will have no other use for you but to suffer misery. You will continue to exist for no other purpose. You will be a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction, and there will be no other use for this vessel except 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 these words from Isaiah 63:3, which are the words of the great GOD: I will tread them in My anger and trample them in My fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled on My garments, and I will stain all My clothing. It is perhaps impossible to imagine words that carry greater expressions of these three things: contempt, hatred, and fierceness of anger. If you cry to GOD to pity you, He will be so far from pitying you in your miserable condition or showing you the least regard or favor that instead He will only trample you underfoot. And though He will know that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence pressing down on you, He will not care. He will crush you under His feet without mercy. He will press out your blood and make it fly, and it will be sprinkled on His garments, staining all His clothing. He will not only hate you, but He will hold you in the utmost contempt. No place will be considered fit for you except under His feet, to be trampled down like the mud in the streets.

3. The misery you are exposed to is what GOD will inflict for the purpose of showing what the wrath of JEHOVAH is. GOD has had it on His heart to show both angels and people how excellent His love is and also how terrible His wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings want to show how terrible their wrath is by the extreme punishments they carry out on those who provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and proud monarch of the Chaldean Empire, wanted to show his wrath when he was enraged with Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego. He gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated seven times hotter than before. No doubt it was raised to the greatest intensity that human skill could achieve. But the great GOD is also willing to show His wrath and display His awesome 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, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction? And since this is His purpose -- what He has determined, to show how terrible His unmixed, unrestrained wrath, the fury and fierceness of JEHOVAH, truly is -- He will accomplish it fully. Something will be accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful beyond all doubt. When the great and angry GOD has risen up and carried out His awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of His wrath, then GOD will call upon the whole universe to see that awesome majesty and mighty power displayed in it. Isaiah 33:12-14. And the people shall be like the burning of lime, like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire. Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge My might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites.

This is what will happen to you if you remain in an unconverted state. The infinite might, majesty, and terribleness of the OMNIPOTENT GOD will be displayed upon you in the overwhelming force of your torments. You will 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 will go out and look upon the awful sight, so that they may see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is. And when they have seen it, they will fall down and worship that great power and majesty. Isaiah 66:23-24. 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 dead bodies 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 even one moment. But you must suffer it for all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisitely horrible misery. When you look forward, you will see an endless forever, a boundless span of time stretching before you that will swallow up your thoughts and overwhelm your soul. You will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any relief, any rest at all. You will know with certainty that you must endure long ages -- millions upon millions of ages -- wrestling and struggling against this almighty, merciless vengeance. And then, when you have done so, when that many ages have actually been spent in this way, you will know that it is all just a single point compared to what remains. So your punishment will truly be infinite. Oh, who can express what it is like for a soul to be in such a condition! Everything we can possibly say about it gives only a very faint and feeble picture of it. It is inexpressible and beyond imagination. For who knows the power of GOD’s anger?

How dreadful is the condition of those who are daily and hourly in danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the terrible situation of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and proper, sober and religious they may otherwise be. Oh, that you would think about this, whether you are young or old! There is reason to think that many in this congregation who are now hearing this message will actually be the subjects of this very misery for all eternity. We do not know who they are, or where they are sitting, or what they are thinking right now. It may be that they are comfortable at this moment and are hearing all these things without much disturbance, flattering themselves that they are not the ones and promising themselves that they will escape. If we knew that there was one person -- just one -- in the whole congregation who was going to suffer this misery, what an awful thing that would be to think about! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight it would be to see that person! How the rest of the congregation might lift up a grieving and bitter cry over him! But instead of one, how many will likely remember this message in hell? And it would be no surprise if some who are here right now should be in hell in a very short time, even before this year is over. And it would be no surprise if some people who now sit here in this meeting house in good health, calm and unconcerned, should be there before tomorrow morning. Those of you who remain in your natural condition and stay out of hell the longest will still be there soon enough! Your damnation does not sleep. It will come swiftly, and in all likelihood very suddenly, upon many of you. You have reason to wonder that you are not already in hell. It is no doubt the case of some whom you have seen and known, who never deserved hell more than you and who previously seemed just as likely to still be alive as you are. Their case is beyond all hope now. They are crying out in extreme misery and utter despair. But here you are in the land of the living, in the house of GOD, with an opportunity to obtain salvation. What would those poor, damned, hopeless souls give for just one day of the opportunity you now enjoy!

And now you have an extraordinary opportunity -- a day when CHRIST has thrown the door of mercy wide open and stands in the doorway, calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners. It is a day when many are flocking to Him and pressing into the kingdom of GOD. Many are coming daily from the east, west, north, and south. Many who were very recently in the same miserable condition that you are in now are in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love for Him who loved them and washed them from their sins in His own blood, rejoicing in the hope of the glory of GOD. How awful it is to be left behind on such a day! To see so many others feasting while you are wasting away and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart while you have reason to mourn with sorrow of heart and cry out in anguish of spirit! How can you rest for even one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking to Christ day after day?

Are there not many here who have lived long in the world and are not to this day born again -- who are still strangers to the commonwealth of Israel and have done nothing since they have been alive but store up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh sirs, your situation is especially dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart are extremely great. Do you not see how people of your age are generally being passed over and left out in this present remarkable and wonderful outpouring of GOD’s mercy? You need to examine yourselves and wake up completely from 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 your age are turning away from all youthful foolishness and flocking to CHRIST? You especially have an extraordinary opportunity right now. But if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as it is with those who wasted all the precious days of their youth in sin and have now reached such a dreadful state of blindness and hardness.

And you children who are unconverted -- do you not know that you are going down to hell to bear the dreadful wrath of that GOD who is 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 being converted and are becoming the holy and happy children of the King of Kings?

Let everyone who is still outside of Christ and hanging over the pit of hell -- whether old men and women, or middle-aged, or young people, or little children -- now listen to the loud calls of God's Word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, which is a day of such great favor to some, will undoubtedly be a day of equally remarkable vengeance to others. People's hearts harden and their guilt increases rapidly on a day like this, if they neglect their souls. There has never been such great danger of such people being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be rapidly gathering in His elect in all parts of the land. Probably the greater part of adult persons who will ever be saved will be brought in now in a short time. It will be as it was during the great outpouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days: the elect will obtain salvation, 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 you were ever born to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit. You will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axe is in an extraordinary way laid at the root of the trees, so that every tree that does not produce good fruit may be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Therefore, let everyone who is outside of Christ now awake and flee from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let everyone flee from Sodom: Hurry and escape for your lives! Do not look behind you! Escape to the mountain, or you will be consumed!