 Jonathan
Edwards 
"O sinner! Consider the fearful
danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath [anger], a wide and bottomless
pit, full of fire and wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that
God. ...You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of the divine wrath
flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe [scorch] it, and burn
it asunder [apart]; and you have no interest in any Mediator [peacemaker],
and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing that you ever have
done, nothing that you can do, to induce [convince] God to spare you one
moment....
"Consider this, you that
are here present that yet remain in an unregenerate [unconverted] state.
That God will execute [act out] the fierceness of His anger implies that
He will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the ... extremity
[desperation] of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned
[unequal] 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 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 ... should [you] suffer too
much in any other sense, than only you shall not suffer beyond what strict
justice requires.
"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 [talk] 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 they knew that there was one person, and but
one, in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of the misery,
what an awful thing would it be to think of! If we knew who it was, what
an awful sight it would be to see such a person! How might all the rest
of the congregation lift up a lamentable [sad] and bitter cry over him!
But, alas! instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse
[discussion] in hell?...
"And now you have an extraordinary
opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown in 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 it is to be left behind at such a day!
...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 [frustration]
of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition?"
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From 'Personal Narrative'
from The Northern Anthology of American Literature, third edition, Vol.
1, 1989 |