Book review: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
by Jonathan Edwards★★★
This is a little pocketbook sermon Edwards preached in Enfield, Massachusetts in 1741. From the back cover: "With this marvelous sermon, Jonathan Edwards changed history and helped spark a spiritual awakening … Historians recognize Edwards as one of the most brilliant men of all times."
The torments of hell are vividly described, but according to the book, "Throughout the sermon Edwards demonstrates the utmost compassion for the lost." See if you can locate the compassion in this quotation from the sermon:
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath toward you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire.
I'm speechless. What can I say? My generic rating of three stars reflects an utter refusal to grade the sermon.
One minister on the platform pulled on Jonathan's coat and cried, "Mr. Edwards! Is not God merciful?" Yet the results were remarkable. People cried aloud and grasped the back of the pews lest the ground open up and swallow them alive into hell. Others fainted, wept uncontrollably or quivered like a leaf in the wind.
Gimme that old time religion.
(The text of the sermon may be read here: http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/je-sinners.htm )
(click picture to buy on Amazon)
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scott
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Apr 12, 2011 11:52PM
Edwards' metaphor of mankind as a spider in conjunction with the them of hell seems to loose sight of the status all humankind shares has image-bearers of God himself. I'm aware of some old testament poetry in which man is likened to an insect, yet the context was not that of eternal condemnations in what we (moderns and prosecularists) were taught think of as hell. Edwards' sermon would be twice as profound if he were preaching an admixture of bible and Dante. Edwards, a victim of his time, but, despite this incorrect view of hell, he's a man who will be resurrected and honored much more than I in the re-newed earth, joined as it will be with heaven. In my histroical montagage I put him as one of the most influential and first of the hell, fire, and brimstone, high pressure sales approach to surmonizing, later to be followed by such greats as Spurgeon and Graham.
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so many typos above and I haven't even hit the wine tonight! I think my point still comes across - any thoughts?
yep, it comes across, lol. I have a hard time saying his view of hell is "incorrect," as if anyone's opinion (including the various Biblical pictures) is more valid than another's, but it certainly is graphic.
