The Night Enfield Wept

On July 8, 1741, Jonathan Edwards stood before a congregation in Enfield, Connecticut, and read from a manuscript in his characteristically quiet, measured voice. He did not pound the pulpit. He did not shout. He simply spoke the truth about God's holiness and human sinfulness in a sermon titled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

The effect was extraordinary. Within minutes, people gripped the backs of pews and clung to church pillars, crying aloud. Some called out, "What shall I do to be saved?" Others wept so loudly that Edwards had to pause repeatedly, waiting for the congregation to quiet enough to hear the next sentence. The entire town was shaken — not by theatrical performance, but by the weight of truth spoken plainly.

Something remarkably similar happened nearly seventeen centuries earlier on the streets of Jerusalem. Peter stood before a crowd and declared the unvarnished reality: "God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." No elaborate rhetoric. No manipulation. Just the truth about who Jesus was and what they had done.

And the people were "cut to the heart." They cried out, "What shall we do?"

The pattern has not changed. When God's Word is proclaimed with clarity and conviction, the Holy Spirit does what no human eloquence ever could — He pierces the heart and opens the door to repentance. The question is never whether the Word is powerful enough. The question is whether we, like those at Enfield and those at Pentecost, are willing to respond.