1344 lines
68 KiB
Plaintext
1344 lines
68 KiB
Plaintext
|
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.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
###########################################################
|
|||
|
|
###########################################################
|
|||
|
|
______
|
|||
|
|
/ / / /
|
|||
|
|
/ /__ __
|
|||
|
|
/ / ) (__
|
|||
|
|
/ / (__(__
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
__
|
|||
|
|
|\ ( ) ) / /
|
|||
|
|
| \ | / / . _/_ . __ / . __ __
|
|||
|
|
| \ | / / / / ) / ) / / ) __ ) / )
|
|||
|
|
) \| (__(__(___(__(__(___(__(__(__(__(__(__/ (__
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|||
|
|
*The*E-Zine*of*Atheistic*Secular*Humanism*and*Freethought**
|
|||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
############################################################
|
|||
|
|
###### Volume II, Number 2 ***A Collector's Item!***#####
|
|||
|
|
################### ISSN 1201-0111 #######################
|
|||
|
|
####################### FEB 1995 ###########################
|
|||
|
|
############################################################
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
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.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
############################################################
|
|||
|
|
############################################################
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
=><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><==
|
|||
|
|
|| Begging portion of the Zine ||
|
|||
|
|
==><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><==
|
|||
|
|
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
|
|||
|
|
author and source.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If you would like to support our efforts, and help us
|
|||
|
|
acquire better equipment to bring you more and better
|
|||
|
|
articles, you may send money to Greg Erwin at: 100,
|
|||
|
|
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.
|
|||
|
|
=><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><=
|
|||
|
|
|| End of Begging portion of the Zine ||
|
|||
|
|
=><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><=
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Articles will be welcomed and very likely used IF:
|
|||
|
|
(
|
|||
|
|
they are emailed to:
|
|||
|
|
((ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA; or,
|
|||
|
|
godfree@magi.com), or
|
|||
|
|
sent on diskette to me at the above Aylmer address in
|
|||
|
|
any format that an IBM copy of WordPerfect can read;
|
|||
|
|
) and
|
|||
|
|
they don't require huge amounts of editing; and
|
|||
|
|
I like them.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I will gladly reprint articles from your magazine, local
|
|||
|
|
group's newsletter, or original material.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If you wish to receive a subscription, email a simple
|
|||
|
|
request to either address, with a clear request
|
|||
|
|
for a subscription. It will be assumed that the "From:"
|
|||
|
|
address is where it is to be sent.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We will automate this process as soon as we know how.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Yes, please DO make copies! (*)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Please DO send copies of The Nullifidian to anyone who might
|
|||
|
|
be interested.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The only limitations are:
|
|||
|
|
You must copy the whole document, without making any changes
|
|||
|
|
to it. Or, at least clearly indicate the source, and how to
|
|||
|
|
subscribe.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
You do NOT have permission to copy this document for
|
|||
|
|
commercial purposes.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The contents of this document are copyright (c) 1995, Greg
|
|||
|
|
Erwin (insofar as possible) and are on deposit at the
|
|||
|
|
National Library of Canada
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
You may find back issues in any place that archives
|
|||
|
|
alt.atheism, specifically mathew's site at
|
|||
|
|
ftp.mantis.co.uk. Currently, all back issues are posted at
|
|||
|
|
the Humanist Association of Ottawa's area on the National
|
|||
|
|
Capital Freenet. telnet to 134.117.1.22, and enter <go
|
|||
|
|
humanism> at the "Your choice==>" prompt.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
ARCHIVES
|
|||
|
|
Arrangements have been made with etext at umich. ftp to
|
|||
|
|
etext.umich.edu directory Nullifidian or lucifers-echo.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
For America On-Line subscribers:
|
|||
|
|
To access the Freethought Forum on America Online enter
|
|||
|
|
keyword "Capital", scroll down until you find Freethought
|
|||
|
|
Forum, double click and you're there. Double click "Files &
|
|||
|
|
Truth Seeker Articles" and scroll until you find Nullifidian
|
|||
|
|
files. Double click the file name and a window will open
|
|||
|
|
giving you the opportunity to display a description of the
|
|||
|
|
file or download the file.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
And thanks to the people at the _Truth Seeker_, who edited,
|
|||
|
|
formatted and uploaded the articles to the aol area.
|
|||
|
|
/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\
|
|||
|
|
Shameless advertising and crass commercialism:
|
|||
|
|
\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/
|
|||
|
|
Atheistic self-stick Avery(tm) address labels. Consisting
|
|||
|
|
of 210 different quotes, 30 per page, each label 2 5/8" x
|
|||
|
|
1". This leaves three 49 character lines available for your
|
|||
|
|
own address, phone number, email, fax or whatever. Each
|
|||
|
|
sheet is US$2, the entire set of 7 for US$13; 2 sets for
|
|||
|
|
US$20. Indicate quantity desired. Print address clearly,
|
|||
|
|
exactly as desired. Order from address in examples below.
|
|||
|
|
Laser printed, 8 pt Arial, with occasional flourishes.
|
|||
|
|
[NOT ACTUAL SIZE]
|
|||
|
|
_________________________________________________
|
|||
|
|
|"Reality is that which, when you stop believing |
|
|||
|
|
|in it, doesn't go away." [Philip K. Dick] |
|
|||
|
|
|Greg Erwin 100 Terrasse Eardley |
|
|||
|
|
|Aylmer, Qc J9H 6B5 Canada |
|
|||
|
|
| email: ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA |
|
|||
|
|
|________________________________________________|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
_________________________________________________
|
|||
|
|
|"...and when you tell me that your deity made |
|
|||
|
|
|you in his own image, I reply that he must be |
|
|||
|
|
|very ugly." [Victor Hugo, writing to clergy] |
|
|||
|
|
|Greg Erwin 100 Terrasse Eardley |
|
|||
|
|
|Aylmer, Qc J9H 6B5 Canada Ph: (613) 954-6128 |
|
|||
|
|
| email: ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA |
|
|||
|
|
|________________________________________________|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Other stuff for sale:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Certificate of Baptism Removal and Renunciation of Religion.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Have your baptism removed, renounce religion, and have a
|
|||
|
|
neat 8" x 11" fancy certificate, on luxury paper, suitable
|
|||
|
|
for framing, to commemorate the event! Instant eligibility
|
|||
|
|
for excommunication! For the already baptism-free:
|
|||
|
|
Certificate of Freedom from Religion. An official atheistic
|
|||
|
|
secular humanist stamp of approval for only $10! Pamphlet on
|
|||
|
|
"how to get excommunicated" included FREE with purchase.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Poster 8x11: WARNING! This is a religion free zone!
|
|||
|
|
All religious vows, codes, and commitments are null & void
|
|||
|
|
herein. Please refrain from contaminating the ideosphere
|
|||
|
|
with harmful memes through prayer, reverence, holy books,
|
|||
|
|
proselytizing, prophesying, faith, speaking in tongues or
|
|||
|
|
spirituality. Fight the menace of second-hand faith!
|
|||
|
|
Humanity sincerely thanks you!
|
|||
|
|
Tastefully arranged in large point Stencil on luxury paper.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
4. Ingersoll poster: "When I became convinced that the
|
|||
|
|
universe is natural" speech excerpt. 11"x17" See the June
|
|||
|
|
1994 issue of the _Echo_ for full text. This is in large
|
|||
|
|
Olde English type, and arranged as a sort of free verse. $15
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Order from the same address as above.
|
|||
|
|
/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\
|
|||
|
|
============================================================
|
|||
|
|
Neat books available from H.H. Waldo, Bookseller! Books by
|
|||
|
|
Ingersoll! Henderson's 19th Century Freethought Cartoons!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Holy Hatred, by James A. Haught......................$21.95
|
|||
|
|
The Trouble With Christmas, (signed by the author)
|
|||
|
|
by Tom "Anti-Claus" Flynn............................$13.95
|
|||
|
|
Evolution & the Myth of Creationism,
|
|||
|
|
by Tim M. Berra......................................$ 8.95
|
|||
|
|
Freethinker's Pictorial Text Book, (1 & 2, separately)
|
|||
|
|
reproduction of 1890 and 1898 books by Watson Heston,
|
|||
|
|
by Bank of Wisdom Freethought Hero Emmet Fields .....$30.00
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
and many, many more. Ever changing inventory. Friendly
|
|||
|
|
letters and news from Robb Marks, Proprietor.
|
|||
|
|
add $2 postage/handling for first book & 0.50 for each
|
|||
|
|
additional book.
|
|||
|
|
Send 2 first class stamps for H.H. Waldo's current catalog.
|
|||
|
|
TO:
|
|||
|
|
H.H Waldo, Bookseller
|
|||
|
|
P.O. Box 350
|
|||
|
|
Rockton, IL 61072
|
|||
|
|
or phone 1-800-66WALDO !!!
|
|||
|
|
tell 'im: "that nullifidian guy sent me!"
|
|||
|
|
============================================================
|
|||
|
|
/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\
|
|||
|
|
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
|
|||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|||
|
|
|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
|
|||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|||
|
|
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!
|
|||
|
|
=========================================================
|
|||
|
|
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
|
|||
|
|
=========================================================
|
|||
|
|
"If God exists, what objection can he have to saying so?"
|
|||
|
|
Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other
|
|||
|
|
Essays_
|
|||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|||
|
|
|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
|
|||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|||
|
|
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 f<>te des rois"]
|
|||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|||
|
|
|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
|
|||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|||
|
|
>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."
|
|||
|
|
==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+
|
|||
|
|
=========================================================
|
|||
|
|
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
|
|||
|
|
=========================================================
|
|||
|
|
"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
|
|||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|||
|
|
|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
|
|||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|||
|
|
Erratum
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Errata", in the table of contents should read: "Erratum".
|
|||
|
|
==========================================================
|
|||
|
|
|| END OF ISSUE ||
|
|||
|
|
==========================================================
|
|||
|
|
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
|