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The Nullifidian Volume 2 Number 02
From ai815@freenet.carleton.caFri Feb 24 23:17:48 1995
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 05:03:13 -0500
From: Greg Erwin <ai815@freenet.carleton.ca>
To: ry94ad@badger.ac.brocku.ca, apabel@prairienet.org, perfecto@pcnet.com,
Eric.M.Kidd@Dartmouth.Edu, ftp@locust.cic.net, rblair@shl.com,
hbcsc056@huey.csun.edu, tmwe@maths.nottingham.ac.uk, kmc9@cornell.edu,
hammond@bigdog.engr.arizona.edu, timbo@frungy.cbr.fidonet.org,
mc.wilson@auckland.ac.nz, PITT_I@summer.chem.su.oz.au,
p01664@psilink.com
Subject: February 1995 Nullfidian
The ezine that blames all its problems on the software.
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*The*E-Zine*of*Atheistic*Secular*Humanism*and*Freethought**
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###### Volume II, Number 2 ***A Collector's Item!***#####
################### ISSN 1201-0111 #######################
####################### FEB 1995 ###########################
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nullifidian, n. & a. (Person) having no religious faith or
belief. [f. med. L _nullifidius_ f. L _nullus_ none +
_fides_ faith; see -IAN] Concise Oxford Dictionary
The purpose of this magazine is to provide a source of
articles dealing with many aspects of humanism.
We are ATHEISTIC as we do not believe in the actual
existence of any supernatural beings or any transcendental
reality.
We are SECULAR because the evidence of history and the daily
horrors in the news show the pernicious and destructive
consequences of allowing religions to be involved with
politics and nationalism.
We are HUMANISTS and we focus on what is good for humanity,
in the real world. We will not be put off with offers of
pie in the sky, bye and bye.
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|| Begging portion of the Zine ||
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This is a "sharezine." There is no charge for receiving
this, and there is no charge for distributing copies to any
electronic medium. Nor is there a restriction on printing
a copy for use in discussion. You may not charge to do so,
and you may not do so without attributing it to the proper
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If you would like to support our efforts, and help us
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Terrasse Eardley / Aylmer, Qc / J9H 6B5 / CANADA. Or buy
our atheist quote address labels, and other fine products,
see "Shameless advertising and crass commercialism" below.
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Articles will be welcomed and very likely used IF:
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they are emailed to:
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I will gladly reprint articles from your magazine, local
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The contents of this document are copyright (c) 1995, Greg
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Shameless advertising and crass commercialism:
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Other stuff for sale:
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Neat books available from H.H. Waldo, Bookseller! Books by
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Holy Hatred, by James A. Haught......................$21.95
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or phone 1-800-66WALDO !!!
tell 'im: "that nullifidian guy sent me!"
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. The Return of God, a phantasie. ...me
2. Statement on evolution and creation science ...me
3. In the defense of reason, by Gabor B. Levy
4. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards
5. Errata
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The Return of God, a phantasie.
Another demonstration of the incoherence of the god idea.
Suppose that you, as a parent, were unavoidably, by a war or
some major natural disaster, separated from your children.
Continents apart. After years, or even decades, you are
able to see them again. Which ones would you love and
embrace?
************************************************************
*I am feeling very 19th century, the result of rereading *
*some Ingersoll speeches searching for quotes, so indulge *
*me. *
************************************************************
Imagine the scene. The children (and maybe nephews and
nieces) have grown up, you ask about their lives, they tell
you of their struggles, successes and failures and ask you
about the years of separation. You assure them of your love
and tell of the troubles and money woes that kept you away,
but assure them that they were ever on your mind, and that
you worked incessantly to bring this day about.
Now, how would you act in the following situations?
Would you understand those who weren't sure any longer of
how you looked, and weren't sure of the way you spoke?
Wouldn't you sit down and talk and get reacquainted?
Would you understand those who reasoned that you had died?
Would you dance and sing together in relief that the
apparently lost had been refound?
Would you understand those who had lost the memory of your
existence and denied that they had ever had known a parent?
An uncle, an aunt? Would you weep with them and show them
baby pictures and rejoice that you were together again?
But suppose there were others, what if there were some who
said that they always knew you existed and had never thought
you had died; (although you were unable to communicate with
them all this time), those who were always certain of
exactly how you looked and what you would say; those who
couldn't stand their brothers, sisters and cousins who said
these terrible things about you, so that in your name they
had had large numbers of these awful children of yours (all
they could get hold of, in fact) these children that you had
loved, and looked forward to meeting again...they had taken
them and tortured them to death, delighting in their cries
of anguish, and stolen their property from their unoffending
relations after the painful deaths, so that these torturers
were now the only official people remaining in some branches
of the family?
If there were a god and it had the attributes of a loving
parent, which is what we are told, the last thing that a
loving parent would want is to have its children killed off.
The truth is that the bible god and its bible believing
followers act like no parent we can imagine, except an
insane and abusive one. However, we can say that the
description of its actions and the history of its
representatives, do exactly fit the description of every
tyrant jealous of power and prerogative, bereft of reason
and conscience, and possessed of no argument but brute
force. But just and merciful? No way!
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|| END OF ARTICLE ||
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"If God exists, what objection can he have to saying so?"
Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other
Essays_
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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Statement on evolution and creation science
Evolution is the basis of modern biology. A student cannot
possibly understand any of the life sciences without
understanding the process of evolution that is the
foundation of these sciences. It is the unifying web that
links them together. Without evolution, biology is a series
of disconnected facts. With evolution, comes a
comprehension of adaptation to local ecologies, the
relationships between species, and the relationships between
plants and animals and environments.
The physical sciences also depend on an accurate knowledge
of the origins of the universe, radioactive decay, the age
of the earth, chemical reactions and many physical
relationships that change over time.
All these facts complement and reinforce each other. To
comprehend the age of the universe, students must learn
about the speed of light, what a red shift is, and something
about spectroscopy. To understand the age of the earth,
they must understand sedimentation, fossilization, and
radioactive decay. To understand human origins they must
understand genetic drift, carbon dating, archeology and
linguistic change. Then they can begin to appreciate how
these different systems reinforce each other and mutually
confirm many diverse facts. They will then grasp how a
scientific hypothesis must fit in with all the observed and
confirmed facts of the universe: gravitation, relativity,
radioactive decay, molecular genetics; one odd observation
or a new theory cannot overturn these well-established
truths. For instance, Einstein's relativity did not change
the observations Newton had made. Newton's laws of gravity
and motion still work correctly, unless one is dealing with
objects moving nearly at the speed of light. Students must
learn that a new theory must still fit in with the old
facts, while explaining observations that were previously
unexplained.
Evolution is an area where great strides are being made
yearly, especially in the area of human origins. Students
should learn how science changes because of new information.
Students should learn how science progresses through the
accumulation of facts, through testing theories to see if
they explain the facts, or if any facts disprove the theory.
Science education must avoid implying that science is a
received and unchangeable set of truths for students to
memorize, but must also teach those facts that are true.
So-called creation science is merely misnamed religious
propaganda. There is nothing of science in it beyond the
name. Creationists do not accept any evidence that goes
against their case and will not listen to any arguments that
don't go their way. Science is interested in the truth, and
seeks out tests that might disprove a new theory.
Creationists do not recognize anything that contradicts
their beliefs. They have simply decided in advance what the
conclusion must be, and head toward it without consideration
of any contrary evidence that may be in the path.
Creationism is an attempt to sneak a narrow sectarian
religious creed into public classrooms and impose it on
everyone. It is based, despite denials, upon the Genesis
texts of the Jewish and Christian bible. Only a few
Christian denominations, and a few Jewish sects demand
literal interpretation of these myths. It is a religious
dogma. Most of all, it is false and it is inaccurate.
There is no evidence to support the creationist argument.
There is no room in science for believing without evidence.
The whole of humanity's scientific enterprise is based on
testing every belief and abandoning those that fail the
tests. Any public school teacher or public school board
that lets "creation science" into a classroom, has quit
teaching and taken up preaching and should be stopped.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
from Greg Erwin, president: Humanist Association of Ottawa,
for the Humanist Association of Canada and the Council for
Secular Humanism, Atheism and Freethought.
and all nullifidians worldwide. :-)
originally sent to the National Centre for Science Education
for use in the fight against creationism in schools.
=========================================================
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
=========================================================
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled
with the entrails of the last priest."
[Denis Diderot, "Dithyrambe sur la fte des rois"]
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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>From a most unusual source (for us) _American Laboratory_.
_American Laboratory_ seems to be a magazine about such
stuff as "Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass
spectrometry of oligosaccharides", but right at the
beginning of the December 1994 issue, there is this
wonderful defence of rational humanism. Should you wish to
let them know that this is appreciated, they can be reached
at amlab@aol.com.
In the defense of reason, by Gabor B. Levy
(c) Copyright by International Scientific Communications,
Inc.
These are again times to try men's souls. We hear many
voices denigrating rational humanism. A lead article in the
July 11, 1994 _Wall Street Journal_ reports the break up of
"secular rationalist humanism" because "chaos theory seeps
into ecology debate." Such arguments remind me somehow of
the times when the novel relativity theory was trivialized
and quoted like the relative merit of a Ford vs. a Chrysler-
-or the uncertainty principle invoked, whether it would rain
or not. Chaos theory is an interesting new concept but it
has a defined meaning, and chaos is not a synonym for
randomness. It teaches that in very complex systems, small
changes in initial conditions have large consequences in
later outcomes. In ignorance of the details of beginning,
no valid predictions are possible. It is not that such
complex systems are capricious, but that we may be ignorant.
Cosmology is an example. Because we cannot hope for a
reliable report on the conditions at the initial "big bang."
we shall stay ignorant of the eventual outcome. So be it!
Technobabble of this type that pits reason against chaos
will be, to quote Thomas Paine in this context, "words or
sound only, and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot
inform the mind." Of course, we need not accept the _Wall
Street Journal_ as the fountainhead of philosophy, but it
behooves us to pay attention to it. It is the voice of the
financial and industrial establishment that runs the
country. It also carried a review of a book by Nobelist
Steven Weinberg that was characterized as "[a] last flicker
of the dying flame of Enlightenment rationalism." These are
not isolated voices. Irving Kristol, for example, talks
about the collapse of secular, rationalist humanism. So do
religionists turned politicians, although Jacques Maritain,
the Roman Catholic Philosopher, finds humanism compatible
with religion. Then again, David Ehrenfeld, in his _The
Arrogance of Humanism_, ascribes the destruction of our
ecosystem to humanism. This is quite a stretch since "human
arrogance against Nature" left traces already in the Stone
Age, and our Bible commands "be fruitful and multiply and
replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over
fish...and every living thing...."
Arguments, of course, always hinge on the definition of
terms. It has been said that we live in "an era of midget
philosophers." Let me join up too, and give a definition of
humanism. We now know that _Homo sapiens_ shares 99% of its
genetic information with the chimpanzee, and a visitor from
outer space (so beloved by modern-day mystics) could
classify humans as a third species of the chimpanzee. A
humanist, as I define it, is a person who cultivates and
promotes this measly 1%. Introspection, abstraction, logic,
and spoken and written communication are the things that
distinguish us. It is not irrelevant that the study of
Greek and Roman literature is called "humanities," because
they are the origins of philosophy, the love of rational
thought. However, today's humanist knows that _Homo_ has a
biologically fixed and limited nature that will never yield
to some theoretical, ideal perfection. Moreover, perfection
is in the eyes of the beholder. Beauty cannot be recognized
without comparison to ugliness. Good only shines in
contrast to bad. And human judgment is even more complex.
Love not only contrasts with hate but also with
indifference, and so on. Evidently, most important facets
of human existence are connected with the 99%, i.e., our
animal nature. However, the input of the 1% is decisive for
civilized living. Of course, the modern humanist is well
aware of limitations embedded in the human mind.
Infinity, for example, is an abstract construct. It is most
useful in mathematics, but it is impossible to feel because
it is contrary to all of our sensory experience. Another
important limitation is the explanation of consciousness;
the most human attribute. My consciousness is self-evident
to myself, but I know of no logical method to prove anybody
else's. There is also the sheer complexity of things that
can defy simple rational analysis. The mental processes
themselves seem mysterious because of the complexity of the
billions of neural connections. Psychology can only
discover small isolated bits such as the Freudian slips and
parapraxes that seem rationally explainable; the rest is so
chaotic that it even allows the conclusion that the brain is
a dual organ composed of substance and of spirit, although
there is no evidence of that. Such are the things that abut
our rational thinking and lead to fantasy. Psychologists
tell us that a degree of fantasy is a healthful escape from
the stresses of reality. Some judge that fantasizing is a
positive thing that contributes to psychological well-being.
This may be true, but I fear the return of mysticism that
is widely popularized in its extreme irrational forms as
petty miracles, extraterrestrial abductions, and a grab bag
of extrasensory happenings. To discard human reason
altogether because of its limitations is like throwing the
baby out with the bath water. Yet, there is a pervasive
trend to discredit science, logic, and reason and to promote
pseudoscience, fear, ignorance, and mysticism.
When it come to social sciences, the picture becomes even
murkier because we are dealing with interactions between
many individuals whose behavior is largely unpredictable.
Humanists of the 18th century fancied that social systems
would yield to simple rational analysis, but this proved to
be naive. If we worry about chaos in physics, we should be
even more concerned with social organization, economics, and
politics, which are chaotic in every sense of the word.
Humans are social animals driven by instincts of self-
preservation and public interest. Thinkers such as
Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke, and others struggled with finding a
reasonable balance. Empirical, quasirational solutions to
such conflicts proved possible in the past. Today we should
strive to refine and intensify such efforts. Particularly
so because instead of calm reason, emotion and passion are
blatantly promoted.
I don't know whether the mayor of Newark, NJ is considered a
rational humanist, but his comments on a social problem were
reasonable when he stated that "Kids don't go out at 2:30 in
the morning to steal cars because the public libraries are
closed or there are no basketball courts open." We don't
know the details of their thought processes, but it is clear
that the car thefts are due in part to a lack of training in
reasoning and in thinking things through. However, instead
of the laboratorious task of changing the mindset through
education, anger and revenge are the predictable reactions.
It pits passion against passion, which will surely prove to
be dangerous. It would not take much to make a Beirut out
of New York or a Sarajevo out of Los Angeles.
And there is more to this. History has shown that when the
social fabric is loosened, oppression and dictatorship
follows. I strongly suspect that the rising humanism-
bashing has little to do with scientific philosophy but is a
prelude to a dark age of repression. As the antisocial
habits are spreading in our land, autocratic leadership is
just waiting in the wings. Senator Moynihan of New York
voiced such an apprehension, and his predictions have been
on the mark in the past.
We must be wary of those who oppose rationality, and not be
fooled by the babble and propaganda. It is certainly not
modern and surely not post-modern to cite the founders of
our republic. But I am not afraid to be considered
conservative in this respect and advocate that we hold fast
to the ideals of the founders who valued education and
rational humanism. Most of those who oppose it now don't
give a hoot for chaos theory or philosophy. They want our
body and soul, our vote, and our money. We may readily
abandon the labels "secular humanism" or "free thought,"
which have been besmirched, and just hold fast to our common
sense and reason.
=========================================================
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
=========================================================
I have only a small flickering light to guide me in the
darkness of a thick forest. Up comes a theologian and blows
it out. [Denis Diderot]
===========================================================
|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
===========================================================
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Following this introduction, you will find the text of the
original sermon by Jonathan Edwards. The sermon was
originally given during the Great Revival in Massachusetts
on July 8, 1741. A contemporary account notes that people
cried and moaned in despair upon hearing the sermon, others
say that some in the audience despaired so much of pleasing
god that they killed themselves. By the standards of the
time, this meant that the sermon was a great success.
A better indication of what Calvinism and its American
incarnation, Puritanism, were all about, cannot be found.
You may occasionally wonder what people like Ingersoll,
Paine and Jefferson found so objectionable in Christianity,
fondly imagining that the Christianity of their day had some
relation to the "family values" "prosperity gospel"
Christianity of today.
It did not. Modern Christianity has been dragged, kicking
and screaming, into a humanist stance on just about every
facet of human life, insisting that this is what they
*really* believed all along. Why Christians were previously
motivated to kill witches and heretics after inflicting
horrible tortures upon them if they didn't really take the
whole thing seriously is beyond me...I guess I don't get the
joke. Why people like Jonathan Edwards spent their lives
defending the doctrine of Original Sin, if it really wasn't
all that important, is hard to explain.
Anyway, for the essential Christian vision of their loving
God, as preached by an authentic Christian preacher, who was
not a kook on the fringes of his society, but a respected
minister of the day, a university president, revered by
all...
And, by the way, I come to reproduce this, because when I
was a lad, in Connecticut, we all had to read this stuff.
It was part of American Colonial Literature and was forced
upon everybody in High School as part of that year that you
took American Literature. In terms of impact and drama, I
suppose that it does qualify as a supremely effective
speech. How many orators can count the suicides they have
caused? So, Jonathan Edwards ranks right up there, in
speechifying and pernicious effect on society, with Hitler.
However, I have occasionally mentioned this sermon as an
example of what I object to in Christianity, and I found out
that nobody recognizes what I am talking about. _Sinners in
the Hands of an Angry God_ is part of your cultural
heritage. The culturally literate should have read it. It
is what Christianity is all about.
And many thanks to: macgyver@xensei.com, who found and sent
the text of the sermon, in response to one of my pleas.
==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+
Here is a copy of the sermon you requested... "Sinners in
the Hands of An Angry God," by Jonathan Edwards.
Winfield, Connecticut
July 8, 1741
Deuteronomy 32:35
"Their foot shall slide in due time."
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 void of counsel (v 28), having no understanding all
God's wonderful works towards them. Under all the
cultivations of heaven, they brought forth bitter an
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 73:18 --"Surely thou didst set
them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into
destruction."
2. It implies, that they were always exposed to sudden
unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places
is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment
whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does
fall, he falls at once without warning: Which is also
expressed in Psalm 73:18,19 --"Surely thou didst set them in
slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction:
How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!"
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 last degree, or in any
respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked
men one moment.
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 in subduing a rebel, who has
found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong
by the number 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 a vast multitude 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 find crawling on us; so it is easy for
us to cut or singe a slender thread that anything hangs by:
thus easy is it for God when he pleases, to cast his enemies
into 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 he 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 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 at
present 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
some who may read this book, who, it may be are at ease,
than he is with many of those that are now in the flames of
hell.
So 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
a 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 whetted, and held
over them, and the pit hath opened it mouth under them.
5. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize
them as his won, 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
goals --Luke 11:21. the devils watch them; they are ever by
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. The
principles are active and powerful, exceedingly 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 corruption, 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 Scriptures compared to the troubled sea (Isa.
57:20). For the present, God restrains their wickedness by
his might power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled
sea, saying "Hitherto shalt thou come, and 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 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 a 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 by an accident, and that there is no visible
danger, in any respect, in his circumstances. The manifold
and continual experience of all 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 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 wick, 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 to 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 cares of others to preserve them, do not
secure them a moment. To this, divine providence and
universal experience do 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? "How dieth the wise
man? as the fool" --Ecclesiastes 2:16.
9. All wicked men's pains and contrivances 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 forms plans to effect his escape
better than others have done. He does not intend to go 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 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 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 to them, and inquire of them, one by one,
whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to
hear about hell, ever to be subjects of that misery, we,
doubtless, should hear one and another reply, "No, I never
intended to come here; I had arranged 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 unexpectedly; I did not look for it at
the time, and in that manner; it came as a thief. Death
outwitted me; God's wrath was too quick for me. O my cursed
foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself
with vain dreams of what I thought 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 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 promise 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, what ever prayers he makes,
till he believes in Christ, God is under no 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
those that are actually suffering the execution 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 for one
moment. The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for
them, the flames gather and flash about 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 at any 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 to a conviction of their danger. This
that you have heard is the case of every one 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
anything 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 are probably 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 who is suspended in it.
Your wickedness makes you, as it were, heavy as lead,
and to rend 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 won care and
prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness,
would have no more influence to uphold you, and keep you our
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 make
subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly;
the sun does not willingly shine upon you, to give you light
and to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willing 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 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 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 they would immediately burst
forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, of the
present, stays his rough wind, otherwise it would come like
a whirlwind, and would be like the chaff of the summer
threshing-floor.
The wrath of God is like great waters that are
restrained for the present; but 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 meantime is constantly increasing, 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 directs the bow to your
heart, and strains at 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 drunk with your blood.
Thus all you that never passed under a great change of
heart, by the might power of the Spirit of God upon your
souls; all you that never were born again, and made new
creatures, and raised from the dead in sin, to a state of
new, are in the hands of an anger God. However you may have
reformed your life in many things and many have had
religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in
your families and closets, and in the housed 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 depend for peace and
safety, were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much in
the same way 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 else, that you did
not go to hell 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, while you have been reading this address, but His
mercy; yea, no other reason can be given 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 swath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of
the fire of swath that you are held over in the hand of that
God whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you
as against may 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 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, l who have the possessions
and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be
disposed of at their mere will. Proverbs 20:2--"The fear of
a king is as the roaring of a lion; whoso provoketh him to
anger, sinneth against his own soul." The subject who 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 with the great and almighty Creator
and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can
do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost
of their fury. All the kings of the earth, before God, are
as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than nothing;
both their love and their hatred are to be despised. The
wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible
than theirs, as his majesty is greater. "And I say unto you,
my friends, Be not afraid of them which 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" --Luke 12:4,5.
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 his chariots
like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury, and his
rebuke with flames of fire." And so also in many other
places. Thus we read of "the wine-press of the fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God" --Revelation 19:15. The words are
exceedingly terrible. If it had only been said, "the wrath
of God," the words would have implied that which is
unspeakably dreadful; but it is said, "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 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., O 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 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 yet remain in an unregenerate
state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger,
implies, that he will inflect 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 in the execution 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 hand of you to bear. "Therefore will I also deal in
fury mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; an
though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I
not hear them" --Ezekiel 8:18. Now, God stands ready to pity
you; this is the day of mercy; you may now cry with some
encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of
mercy is passed, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and
shrieks will be in vain; you 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 may 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." "Because I have called, and ye
refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of
my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock
when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation,
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress
and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me,
but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they
shall not find me; for that they hated knowledge, and did
not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my
counsel; they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they
eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their
own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay
them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them"
--Proverbs 1:24-32.
How awful are those words of the great God. "I will
tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in mine
fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,
and I will stain all my raiment" --Isaiah 63:3. It is,
perhaps impossible to conceive of words that carry in them
greater manifestations of these three things, namely,
namely, contempt, hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If
you cry to God to pit you, he will be so far from pitying
you in your doleful case, or showing you the least reward of
or favor, that instead of that, he will only tread you under
foot; and though he will know that you cannot bear the
weight of Omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not
regard that, but he will crush you under his feet without
mercy. He will crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it
shall be sprinkled on his garments, so as to stain all his
raiment. He will not only hate you, but he will have you in
the utmost contempt; no place shall be thought fit for you,
but under his feet, to be trodden down as the mire of the
streets.
3. The misery you are exposed to is that which God will
inflict, to the end that he might show what the wrath of
Jehovah is. Go 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 provoked 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
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
suffering of his enemies. "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?"
--Romans 9:22. And seeing this is his design, and what he
has determined, even to show how terrible the unmixed,
unrestrained wrath, the fury and fierceness of Jehovah is,
he will do it. There will be something accomplished and
brought to pass that will be dreadfully witnessed. 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 the
awful majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it.
"And the people shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns
cut shall they be burned in the fire. Hear, ye that are afar
off, what I have done; and ye that are afar off, what I have
done; and ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The
sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the
hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring
fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"
--Isaiah 33:12-14.
Thus is 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 the great power and majesty. "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 to all flesh"
--Isaiah 66:23,24.
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 you thoughts, and amaze your
souls; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any
deliverances, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all; you
will know certainly that you must wear out long ages
millions and millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting
with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you
have so done, when 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. O, what 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 knoweth the
power of God's anger?"
How dreadful is the state of those who are daily and
hourly in danger of this great wrath and infinite misery!
But this is the dismal case of every soul 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 fear that
there are many who will read this book, or
have heard the
gospel, who will actually be the subjects of this very
misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, 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 are not the persons,
promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew the
there was one person, and but one, of those that we know,
that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful
thing it would be to think of! If we knew who it was, what
an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might
every Christian lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over
him! But alas! Instead of one, how many is it likely will
remember these solemn reflections in hell! And some may be
in hell in a very short time, before this year is out. And
it would be no wonder if some readers, who are now in
health, and quiet and secure, may be there before tomorrow
morning. Those of you who finally continue in a natural
condition who may keep out of hell the longest, will be
there in a little time! Your damnation does not slumber; it
will come swiftly, and in all probability, very suddenly,
upon may 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, blessed with Bibles and sabbaths,
and ministers, and have an opportunity to obtain salvation.
What would not those poor damned, hopeless souls give for
one days opportunity such as you now enjoy?
And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day
wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and
stands calling, and crying with a loud voice to poor
sinners, an 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, an 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 and 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 to 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 those who are
flocking from day to day to Christ?
Are there not may who have lived long in the world, who
are not to this day born again, and so are aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and have nothing ever since they
have lived, but treasured up wrath against the day of wrath?
O sirs! Your case, in an especial manner, is extremely
dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart are extremely
great. Do not you see how generally persons of your years
are passed over and left, in the dispensations 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, young man, and young woman, 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 opportunity,
but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as it is
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 of the children of the land are converted, and
are becoming 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 great mercy 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. Never
was there a period when so many means were employed for the
salvation of souls, and if you entirely neglect them, you
will eternally curse the day of your birth. Now, undoubtedly
it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axe is
laid at the root of the trees, and 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 flee from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty
God is now undoubtedly hanging over every unregenerate
sinner. Let every one flee out of Sodom --"Escape for your
lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain lest you
be consumed."
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"we ought even to hold as a fixed principle that what I see
white I believe to be black, if the superior authorities
define it to be so." -- Ignatius de Loyola
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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Erratum
"Errata", in the table of contents should read: "Erratum".
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|| END OF ISSUE ||
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Once again: ISSN: 1201-0111 The Nullifidian Volume Two,
Number 1: FEB 1995.
--
Autumn wind: Where there are humans Greg Erwin, pres., Humanist
gods, Buddha-- you'll find flies, Association of Ottawa
lies, lies, lies and Buddhas. ai815@freeenet.carleton.ca
--Shiki --Issa godfree@magi.com
