"Their foot shall slide in due time""
Deuteronomy 32:35
In
this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving
Israelites, ..... -- 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.,,,
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.... 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 …
So that 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 whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth
under them.
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 who
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
who are 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 with them, and inquire
of them, one by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to
hear about hell, ever to be the subjects of misery: we doubtless, should hear
one and another reply, "No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out 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 unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that
manner; it came as a thief -- Death outwitted me: God's wrath was too quick for
me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself
with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when I was saying, Peace and
safety, then sudden destruction came upon me."
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, whatever prayers he makes, till he
believes in Christ, God is under no manner of 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 to those that
are actually suffering the executions 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 one moment; the devil
is waiting for them, …In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of;
all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged
forbearance of an incensed God….
The
God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some
loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his
wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else,
but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in
his sight; you are ten thousand times 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 but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire
every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that
you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in
this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason
to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning,
but that God's hand has held you up.
There
is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have
sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked
manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to
be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.
O
sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath,
a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in
the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you,
as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the
flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it,
and burn it asunder; and you have ... nothing to lay hold of to save yourself,
nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you
ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment….
….Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted
state, if you continue in it; the infinite might, and majesty, and terribleness
of the omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you, in the ineffable strength of
your torments….
How
dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this
great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in
this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober
and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would consider it, whether
you be young or old! There is reason to think, that there are many in this
congregation now hearing this discourse, that will
actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. We know not who
they are, or in what seats they sit, or what thoughts they now have.
It
may be they are now at ease, and hear all these things without much
disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons,
promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one
person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of
this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of! If we knew who it
was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might all the
rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! But,
alas! instead of one, how many is it likely will
remember this discourse in hell? And it would be a wonder, if some that are now
present should not be in hell in a very short time, even before this year is
out. And it would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here, in some
seats of this meeting-house, in health, quiet and secure, should be there
before tomorrow morning….
And
now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the
door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to
poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the
Are
there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day
born again? …. You had need to consider yourselves, and awake thoroughly out of
sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God. -- And
you, young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious season 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 extraordinary
opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as 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 other
children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children
of the King of kings?
….Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake
and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly
hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of