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Title: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Source:
Blue Letter Bible
URL Source: http://www.blueletterbible.org/stud ... n/jonathan_edwards/sinners.cfm
Published: Mar 7, 2015
Author: Jonathan Edwards
Post Date: 2015-03-07 00:07:19 by redleghunter
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Keywords: None
Views: 28406
Comments: 80
(A Sermon Preached at Enfield, July 8th, 1741 at a Time of Great Awakenings, and Attended with Remarkable Impressions on many of the Hearers.) Their foot shall slide in due time.— Deut. 32:35. 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 (as Deut. 32:28) void of counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they brought forth bitter and 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, “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction (Psalm 73:18).” 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 “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? (Psalm 73:18-19)” 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 least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment.—The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations. Poster Comment: 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 kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking from day to day to Christ?
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 65.
#2. To: redleghunter (#0)
Hellfire sermons and the very idea of hell itself -- except for Hitler and Stalin -- are increasingly unpopular over the last century. Edwards would not be too surprised at this outcome. Tell me, what draws people to Christianity: love of God or fear of hell?
Some people are saved because of fear of punishment, some because of hope for reward, some because of love of God.
Fear of punishment seems to be the culturally embedded reason for Irish Catholics:) A good dose of guilt too! Broken down here are some thoughts: Fear of punishment might lead some down two paths: 1. A consciousness of sin in their lives never realized when confronted with the Holiness of God. God is Holy, Holy, Holy. Thus the heart being led to "what must I do to be saved?" (See Acts 16 for such a case). The convicted sinner being led by the Holy Spirit seeks God's Grace. 2. The other path may lead someone to find ways to 'work' towards salvation. To 'work off sins' keeping a balance sheet. "I sinned doing this, I will do this good thing to please God." Thus rejecting the full Grace and Gift of God. Hope of reward: This too has the possibility of somone trying to gain salvation through their own works instead of the Works of Christ. The Works of Christ through the Holy Spirit produce the fruits of the Vine which is our reward. For the Love of God: Out of all three presented reasons, this one most matches a selfless humble approach to God's Throne. A heart regenerated. It acknowledges the failure of our own efforts to attain God's Grace.
It's all a Catholic thing, ain't it? (I STILL feel somewhat guilty tossing a piece of bread into the trash without kissing it first :-/
You may recall that piece of holy toast that sold on eBay for $29,000 about a decade back. And she had taken a bite out of it first! This actually led to products on the market to make holy toast using toast stamps. Mostly, these were products produced to mock Catholic gullibility when they get hypnotized by some sign or wonder, often involving apparitions of Mary. NT scripture, BTW, does not have a high opinion of those whose faith and practice constantly demand signs from God. Jesus spoke against those who demand signs and wonders from God, even though He did perform many miracles, many of them totally unexpected or even outside the general pattern of miracles known to Judaism in the Old Testament. NBC: ‘Virgin Mary grilled cheese’ sells for $28,000 So did the excesses of the eBay Holy Toast auction lift up Christianity's reputation or blacken its name as superstitious nonsense for the gullible? Prots naturally ridiculed the Holy Toast auction, much as Martin Luther ridiculed the excesses of the papal tax as practiced by Tetzel, the pope's bagman. Luther objected to a saying attributed to Johann Tetzel that "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory [also attested as 'into heaven'] springs."
If you enjoy reviewing the excesses of the indulgences which sparked the Reformation -- among other prominent and very public worldly corruption by Rome and the "princes of the Church" -- you might enjoy Schaff's recitation of some of the facts of the era. CCEL: History of the Christian Churches, Volume VI, Phillip Schaff. It details the involvement of rulers and bankers and how they got their cut of Rome's indulgence loot, often receiving cash advances on future sale of indulgences. Luther was rather memorable on this topic of whether a pope could issue an indulgence to cover the sin of raping the Holy Virgin. Including a premeditated rape of the Virgin. And Luther had a point: there were absolutely no limits to the powers claimed by the corrupt worldly bishops of Rome. Nor did this represent the entirety of the scandals of indulgences issued by Rome and quite well-known to the public: In Rome, the residence of the supreme pontiffs, as we might well have expected, the offer of indulgences was the most copious, almost as copious as the drops on a rainy day. According to the Nürnberger relic-collector, Nicolas Muffel, every time the skulls of the Apostles were shown or the handkerchief of St. Veronica, the Romans who were present received a pardon of 7,000 days, other Italians 10,000 and foreigners 14,000. In fact, the grace of the ecclesiastical authorities was practically boundless. Not only did the living seek indulgences, but even the dying stipulated in their wills that a representative should go to Assisi or Rome or other places to secure for their souls the benefit of the indulgences offered there. Prayers also had remarkable offers of grace attached to them. According to the penitential book, The Soul’s Joy, the worshipper offering its prayers to Mary received 11,000 years indulgence and some prayers, if offered, freed 15 souls from purgatory and as many earthly sinners from their sins. It professed to give one of Alexander Vl.’s decrees, according to which prayer made three times to St. Anna secured 1,000 years indulgence for mortal sins and 20,000 for venial. The Soul’s Garden claimed that one of Julius II.’s indulgences granted 80,000 years to those who would pray a prayer to the Virgin which the book gave. No wonder Siebert, a Roman Catholic writer, is forced to say that "the whole atmosphere of the later Middle Ages was soaked with the indulgence-passion."1330 An indulgence issued by Alexander VI., in 1502, was designed to secure aid for the knights of the Teutonic Order against the Russians. The latter was renewed by Julius II. and Cologne, Treves, Mainz, Bremen, Bamberg and other sees were assigned as the territory. Much money was collected, the papal treasury receiving one-third of the returns. The preaching continued till 1510 and Tetzel took a prominent part in the campaign.1331 While these dreadful corruptions make easy fun for us modern Prots to poke fun at Rome, Schaff does outline how these indulgences were harmless enough -- rebuilding burned towns and some other worthy purposes -- gradually became utterly corrupt in the hands of succeeding popes who abused their supposed secret superpowers to "bind and loose" all things in heaven and therefore the bishop of Rome was, in effect, able to dictate to God what was a sin and what was not and who was in Purgatory and who was not, no matter what God thought about it. So these doctrines of papal supremacy and of a living tradition bestowed by a laying on of hands by the hierarchy came into a well-earned disrepute and gave rise to Protestantism and the Reformation.
You might recall some prosperity-gospel preachers of the modern era with similar sales lines for books that grant wealth to those who pray a "top-secret prayer". Here's one to get-rich-quick with power praying: The Prayer Of Jabez I do think the prayer of Jabez made one guy pretty rich: the author. For middle-class security and modesty, try The Prayer of Agur. You have to admit, Rome selling forgiveness to cover 80,000 years in Purgatory and even into the millions of years is pretty impressive stuff. It was the bargain basement of works-based salvation.
#67. To: TooConservative (#65)
And God told Paul "My Grace is sufficient for you."
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#3. To: TooConservative (#2)
what draws people to Christianity: love of God or fear of hell?
#20. To: A Pole, TooConservative, liberator (#3)
Some people are saved because of fear of punishment, some because of hope for reward, some because of love of God.
#24. To: redleghunter, A Pole, TooConservative (#20)
Fear of punishment seems to be the culturally embedded reason for Irish Catholics:) A good dose of guilt too!
#37. To: Liberator, A Pole (#24)
(I STILL feel somewhat guilty tossing a piece of bread into the trash without kissing it first :-/
Always check first that it isn't Holy Toast! 
On 31 October 1517, Luther wrote to his bishop, Albert of Mainz, protesting the sale of indulgences. He enclosed in his letter a copy of his "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences", which came to be known as The Ninety-Five Theses. Hans Hillerbrand writes that Luther had no intention of confronting the church, but saw his disputation as a scholarly objection to church practices, and the tone of the writing is accordingly "searching, rather than doctrinaire." Hillerbrand writes that there is nevertheless an undercurrent of challenge in several of the theses, particularly in Thesis 86, which asks: "Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money?"
#55. To: Liberator, A Pole, redleghunter (#37)
The description of Tetzel’s sale of indulgences and Luther’s protest are a part of the history of the Reformation. It remains, however, yet to be said, as belonging to the mediaeval period, that the grace of indulgences was popularly believed to extend to sins, not yet committed. Such a belief seems to have been encouraged by the pardon-preachers, although there is no documentary proof that any papal authorities made such a promise. In writing to the archbishop of Mainz, Oct. 31, 1517, Luther had declared that it was announced by the indulgence-hawkers that no sin was too great to be covered by the indulgence, nay, not even the sin of violating the Virgin, if such a thing had been possible. And late in life, 1541, the Reformer stated that the pardoner "also sold sins to be committed."1335 The story ran that a Saxon knight went to Tetzel and offered him 10 thaler for a sin he had in mind to commit. Tetzel replied that he had full power from the pope to grant such an indulgence, but that it was worth 80 thaler. The knight paid the amount, but some time later waylaid Tetzel and took all his indulgence-moneys from him. To Tetzel’s complaints the robber replied, that thereafter he must not be so quick in giving indulgence from sins, not yet committed. Both of the churches in Wittenberg were granted indulgences and a special indulgence was issued for the reliquary-museum which the elector Frederick had collected. An indulgence of 100 days was attached to each of the 5,005 specimens and another 100 to each of the 8 passages between the cases that held them. With the 8,133 relics at Halle and the 42 entire bodies, millions and billions of days of indulgence were associated, a sort of anticipation of the geologic periods moderns demand. To be more accurate, these relics were good for pardons covering 39,245,120 years and 220 days and the still further period of 6,540,000 quarantines, each of 40 days.
#65. To: All, redleghunter, Liberator, A Pole (#55)
The Soul’s Garden claimed that one of Julius II.’s indulgences granted 80,000 years to those who would pray a prayer to the Virgin which the book gave. No wonder Siebert, a Roman Catholic writer, is forced to say that "the whole atmosphere of the later Middle Ages was soaked with the indulgence-passion."
Replies to Comment # 65. You have to admit, Rome selling forgiveness to cover 80,000 years in Purgatory and even into the millions of years is pretty impressive stuff. It was the bargain basement of works-based salvation.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 65.
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