dents. He makes the point that, strictly speaking, Sinners is not a hell-fire sermon. See
∑∑≠ Notes to Pages 221–29
19. Wilson Kimnach provides an excellent account of the sermon's context and precedents. He makes the point that, strictly speaking, Sinners is not a hell-fire sermon. See Works, 10: 168–79. Even Edwards' later opponent, Charles Chauncy, used an image similar to Edwards' dangling spider in June 1741. See C. C. Goen, ''Introduction,'' Works, 4: 56n.
20. Christopher Lukasik, ''Feeling the Force of Certainty: The Divine Science, Newtonianism, and Jonathan Edwards's 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,' '' William and Mary Quarterly 73 (June 2000): 222–45, makes some astute observations connecting this point to Edwards' interest in Newtonian science of universal gravitation, which in turn can be related to Edwards' dispositional view of reality.
21. For instance, in summer 1739, he interrupted his often matter-of-fact series on the history of redemption to preach a stunning sermon around the image of the sun. Christ's coming for the wicked ''will be a scorching sun to them. Yea, it shall set them a-fire as stubble, as dry and dead plants, and shall utterly burn them up and leave neither root nor branch. . . . But with respect to them that fear God's name, his beams shall not be scorching but healing, of a benign, pleasant, healthful nature. His light will be joyfull to them; it will be a glorious morning to them when this Sun arises after such a long night, and their souls shall grow and flourish under the influences of that Sun, as living plants and animals grow and thrive under the warm beams of the sun, so that they shall grow up as calves of the stall.''
So on an early summer's day he went on through the entire sermon reiterating with vivid images all the terrible and beneficial qualities of the same sun, which is Christ, whose coming is like a refiner's fire: ''Christ will then appear an infinitely holy, just judge. The sight of this holiness and justice will be joyful to the saints; it will appear as a ravishing beauty in their eyes. But the ungodly will hate the sight of it. Christ's pure eyes will pierce their souls with torment, like piercing flames of fire that they cannot endure.'' Sermon, Malachi 4:1–2 (May 1739).
22. The text of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Deuteronomy 32:35 (1741) can be found in many editions. The quotations here are from Reader, ed. Smith, Stout, and Minkema, 89–105.
23. Quoted from Ola Winslow, Jonathan Edwards, 1703–1758 (New York: Macmillan, 1940), 192, from Watts' handwritten comment on title page of volume, owned by Forbes Library, Northampton.
24. Sermon, Deuteronomy 32:35 (June 1741; original version of Sinners), edited for Yale edition. I am indebted to the editor's introduction.
25. George S. Claghorn, Introduction to Edwards to Deborah Hatheway, June 3, 1741, Works, 16: 90–91. Quotations that follow are from the letter, pp. 91–95.
chapter 14. ''He That Is Not with Us Is Against Us''
1. Edwards to Deacon Moses Lyman, August 31 1741, Works, 16: 97–98. Kevin Sweeney, ''River Gods and Related Minor Deities: The Williams Family and the Connecticut River Valley, 1637–1790'' (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1986), 298–300. Edwards' funeral sermon The Resort and Remedy of Those That Are Bereaved by the Death of an Eminent Minister (Boston, 1741).
2. Jonathan Belcher to Thomas Hutchinson, May 11, 1741 (Belcher Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society), quoted in Michael Batinski, Jonathan Belcher, Colonial