"The church is to be in the depths of the sea before she be fully delivered, Ps. 68:22. The Jews were to pass through the sea with affliction before the pride of Assyria should be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt; depart away; after that, he would strengthen them in the Lord, and they should walk up and down in his name, Zech. 10:11, 12. The sharpest pangs precede deliverance; it was so when Christ came in the flesh, it will be so at every new rising of Christ in his Spirit. When things were at a low ebb; when the sun set in the greatest darkness of error, idolatry, and profaneness; when the Jews, the only spot of ground God had, was as a wilderness, almost barren of any grace; when the great predictions of the prophets were unminded, and less understood; when Urim and Thummim had ceased, and the spirit of prophecy was shut up : then Christ comes in the fullness of time to work an universal relief for mankind. When the day of vengeance is in the heart of the Redeemer, he shall look and find none to help, he shall wonder to find none to uphold; therefore his own arm shall bring salvation, Isa. 63:5.

This has always been God's method. With his Son, the powers of darkness had their hour, and triumphed when they had laid him in the grave, before he was raised by the glory of his Father. The witnesses must be killed by the hand of their enemies, before they stand upon their feet, and ascend up into heaven, in the sight of their adversaries, Rev. 11:7. When the church shall walk in darkness, 'grope for the wall like the blind, mourn like doves, look for salvation, and it shall seem far off,' then will the Lord 'put on a helmet of salvation on his head, and the garments of vengeance for clothing, and be clad with zeal as a cloak,' Isa. 59:9, 10, 11, 17. The break of day is ushered in by a thicker darkness than that which clouded the night before. The sharpest persecution that ever the church had, was in the time of Diocletian, a little before Christianity was to rule his empire in the exaltation of Constantine. Abraham was in hardship, out of his country, when he received the promises of the Messiah; and Israel in the wilderness, when the oracles of God were delivered to them. Confusion of the church precedes always the communication of light." — Stephen Charnock

"What this wrath is which is to come? It is not the finite wrath of the most furious and fierce creatures; it is not the wrath of lions, bears, tigers, wolves, or wild bulls; it is not the wrath of the most potent and tyrannical men, who may exceed all these in ferocity and cruelty. Neither is it the wrath of the devil, whose wrath is great here on earth when let loose to tempt and deceive, but most furiously will express itself hereafter in hell when he is let loose as God's executioner to torment the wicked. But by "the wrath to come" we are to understand the infinite wrath of the sin-avenging God, in comparison with which the wrath of all other creatures in the world is mild, and not in the least to be regarded."

"And this is the wrath which is to come, which will be most bitter, beyond any gall or wormwood to the taste. This wrath will be most pure, without any allay or mixture of any comfortable ingredients. This wrath will be most plentiful, the treasures of which will be opened in hell, and all the damned will be filled with it abundantly. It will be most weighty, beyond any mountain of lead, to sink sinners down into the bottomless pit. It will be most fierce, and so powerful that all the powers of men and devils shall not be able to make the least resistance. It will be intolerable, and yet must be borne; it will be implacable, so as never to be appeased; and it will be eternal, so as never to be ended." — Thomas Vincent

"There is quiet rest and full refreshment in Christ for sinners that are weary and heavy laden with sin. Sin is the most evil and odious thing, as well as the most mischievous and fatal; it is the most mortal poison; it, above all things, hazards life, and endangers the soul, exposes to the loss of all happiness, and to the suffering of all misery, and brings the wrath of God. All men have this dreadful evil hanging about them, and cleaving fast to the soul, and ruling over it, and keeping it in possession, and under absolute command: it hangs like a viper to the heart, or rather holds it as a lion does his prey. But yet there are multitudes, who are not sensible of their misery. They are in such a sleep that they are not very unquiet in this condition, it is not very burthensome to them, they are so sottish that they do not know what is their state, and what is like to become of them. But there are others who have their sense so far restored to them that they feel the pain, and see the approaching destruction, and sin lies like a heavy load upon their hearts; it is a load that lies upon them day and night, they cannot lay it down to rest themselves, but it continually oppresses them. It is bound fast unto them, and is ready to sink them down; it is a continual labour of heart, to support itself under this burden. Thus we read of them "that labour, and are heavy laden." Or rather, it is like the scorching heat in a dry wilderness, where the sun beats and burns all the day long; where they have nothing to defend them; where they can find no shade to refresh themselves. If they lay themselves down to rest, it is like lying down in the hot sands, where there is nothing to keep off the heat."

"That there is no remedy but in Jesus Christ; there is nothing else will give you true quietness. If you could fly into heaven, you would not find it there; if you should take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth, in some solitary place in the wilderness, you could not fly from your burden. So that if you do not come to Christ, you must either continue still weary and burdened, or, which is worse, you must return to your old dead sleep, to a state of stupidity; and not only so, but you must be everlastingly wearied with God's wrath." — Jonathan Edwards