1741 · The gospel
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
On a summer day in 1741 Jonathan Edwards stood up in a church in Enfield, Connecticut, and preached this sermon. Before he had finished, people were crying out so loudly that he had to stop.
It is remembered for its vivid images: a spider held over a fire, a flood held back by a dam, a bow bent with the arrow aimed at the heart. Edwards used them to wake his hearers to their danger, and then to plead with them: Christ “has thrown the door of mercy wide open,” and now is the time to come in.
- About 2 hours to read (23,000 words)
- Easy, friendly reading
- Readers of American history, and anyone who has heard of it but never read it.
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Then & Now
What did 1753 look like?
Here is a paragraph from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” as it was first printed and as you'll read it in this edition.
As printed in 1753
Therefore, let every one that is out of CHRIST, now awake and fly from the Wrath to come. The Wrath of almighty GOD, is now undoubtedly hanging over a great Part of this Congregation: Let every one fly out of Sodom: Haſte and eſcape for your Lives, look not behind you, eſcape to the Mountain, leſt you be conſumed.
Today
Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom. Gen 19:‸17. “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
About this edition
Faithful, and easier to read
Edwards's Enfield sermon (1741) from its second edition, in modern spelling, a small hand-out book quoting scripture from the Berean Standard Bible (two KJV quotations kept where Edwards builds on their words).
80% of the words are exactly as printed. Most of the rest are spelling and punctuation; only 2.4% changed in grammar or wording. Every change is recorded, and you can see each one in Then & Now.
Open Then & Now- First published
- 1741
- Made from
- The second edition (New York, 1753; EEBO-TCP N05520)
- Source files
- This edition on GitHub
- Licence
- Public domain (CC0): copy and share freely
- Found a mistake?
- Tell us
About the authorJonathan Edwards 1703–1758Colonial America's great preacher and thinker of the Great Awakening.