Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

13 cumbereth – outdated variation on cumber – to trouble, distress, embarrass, or inconvenience
(OED)
14 brandish – to flourish or wave about by way of threat or display, or in preparation for action
(OED)
3
III.

6 doctrine – that which is taught or laid down as true concerning a particular subject or
department of knowledge (in this case, Christianity); a belief; a dogma, tenet (OED)
7 pleasure of God – the will of God
8 deliver – to save (here meaning: to save oneself from God’s wrath)
9 chaff – the unusable husk that covers grains and other seeds.

99 The phrase ‘yet out of Christ’ means ‘as yet unconverted to Christianity’
100 harken – listen, pay heed
101 apace – swiftly, quickly, fast (OED)
102 According to Calvinist doctrine, God has already chosen the select group of people (the
‘elect’) who will be able to enter heaven
103 Refers to Acts 2 when Peter, Jesus’ apostle, adjures a crowd of people to repent their sins
and convert to Christianity, saying, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Consider the fearful danger you are in: ‘tis 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
53 treasuring up – hoarding, saving up
54 religious affections – desires to do God’s will
55 closets – personal lives (lives that are ‘closeted’ or hidden)
56 like – similar or same
57 ...

For the present God
restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying,
15 thither – there
16 immutable – unchangeable, constant
17 unmindful – unaware of; unconcerned with
18 whet – sharpened, honed
19 Luke 11:21, “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace”
20 By ‘carnal men,’ Edwards means, literally, men made of flesh, or humans.

Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and haughty monarch of the Chaldean empire, was willing to show his
wrath, when enraged with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; and accordingly gave orders that the
burning fiery furnace should be het80 seven times hotter than it was before81; doubtless, it was raised to
the utmost degree of fierceness that human art82 could raise it: but the great God is also willing to show
71 forbear – to refrain from using; to withhold, keep back
72 execution – the action o...

For the present God
restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying,
15 thither – there
16 immutable – unchangeable, constant
17 unmindful – unaware of; unconcerned with
18 whet – sharpened, honed
19 Luke 11:21, “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace”
20 By ‘carnal men,’ Edwards means, literally, men made of flesh, or humans.

There is laid in the very nature of carnal
men20 a foundation for the torments of hell: there are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them,
and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell fire.

In Greek, Jehovah means “He
that is”
69 omnipotence – the condition of being all-powerful
70 ineffable - inexpressible
9
and sees how your poor soul is crushed and sinks down, as it were into an infinite gloom, he will have no
compassion upon you, he will not forbear71 the executions72 of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand;
there shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stay73 his rough wind; he will have no
regard to your welfare, nor be at all caref...

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 abate44 that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any
promise to hold ‘em up one moment; the devil is waiting for t...

6 doctrine – that which is taught or laid down as true concerning a particular subject or
department of knowledge (in this case, Christianity); a belief; a dogma, tenet (OED)
7 pleasure of God – the will of God
8 deliver – to save (here meaning: to save oneself from God’s wrath)
9 chaff – the unusable husk that covers grains and other seeds.

‘Tis true, that judgment against your evil works has not
been executed hitherto; the floods of God's vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the meantime
45 forbearance – abstinence from enforcing what is due (OED)
46 incensed – furious, irate
47 brimstone – an outdated synonym for sulfur, which was thought to be part of the torturous
environment in hell.

21 enmity – extreme hatred or bitterness
22 beget – cultivate, bring forth, give rise to
23 Isaiah 57:20: “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast
up mire and dirt.”

The miraculously walk out of the fire unscathed, accompanied by a figure
resembling the Son of God.

That God will execute
the fierceness of his anger, implies that he will inflict wrath without any pity: when God beholds the
ineffable70 extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength,
62 asunder – into separate parts; in two, in pieces (OED)
63 induce – cause, prompt
64 potent - powerful
65 potentate – a person endowed with independent power; a prince, monarch, ruler (OED)
66 adversaries – opponents, enemies
67 render – to repre...

Almost every natural man that hears
of hell, flatters himself36 that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters
himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do; everyone lays out matters
in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and
that his schemes won’t fail.

If you cry
to God to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least
regard or favor, that instead of that he’ll only tread you under foot: and though he will know that you
can’t bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he won’t regard that, but he will crush you
under his feet without mercy; he’ll crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his
garments, so as to stain all his raiment.

99 The phrase ‘yet out of Christ’ means ‘as yet unconverted to Christianity’
100 harken – listen, pay heed
101 apace – swiftly, quickly, fast (OED)
102 According to Calvinist doctrine, God has already chosen the select group of people (the
‘elect’) who will be able to enter heaven
103 Refers to Acts 2 when Peter, Jesus’ apostle, adjures a crowd of people to repent their sins
and convert to Christianity, saying, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

He draws this metaphor from Matthew 3:12, “Whose fan is in his hand, and he
will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire.”

5:3, “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon
them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”

Consider the fearful danger you are in: ‘tis 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
53 treasuring up – hoarding, saving up
54 religious affections – desires to do God’s will
55 closets – personal lives (lives that are ‘closeted’ or hidden)
56 like – similar or same
57 ...

(NORTON)
30 prudence – ability to discern the most suitable or profitable course of action, especially as
regards conduct (OED)
31 divine providence – the care that God provides for humans
32 bear testimony – give witness or attest
33 politic – sagacious, prudent, shrewd (OED)
34 liable – exposed or subject to, or likely to suffer from (OED)
35 contrivance – a plan or scheme for attaining some end; an ingenious device; a trick (OED)
36 flatters himself – this phrase draws from...