Jonathan Edwards gave a fiery sermon called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" to convince colonists to repent their sins and accept salvation through Christ. He believed that all people were sinful and deserved eternal punishment in hell. Edwards warned that it was only by God's mercy and will that listeners were kept from falling into the fiery pit of damnation moment to moment. He urged them to reconsider their situation, as nothing they did could save them from divine wrath, and to seize the opportunity of Christ's open door of mercy while they still could.