"Sinners at the Hands of an Angry God" Reading Check

Question 1

Name some words Edwards uses to describe Hell on the first page of the reading.

Answer 1

-“That world of misery”
-“That lake of burning brimstone”
-“Dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God”

Question 2

Name the personification Edwards uses in the first page.

Answer 2

“Hell’s wide gaping mouth”

Question 3

What does Edwards describe in the first paragraph?

Answer 3

The situation that every sinner (someone who is out of Christ/not in God’s grace) finds themselves in,
Dangling above Hell with the only thing keeping them up being God’s hand

Question 4

What does “your wickedness” do, according to Edwards?

Answer 4

It makes you heavy as lead and you tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards Hell

Question 5

According to Edwards, what are the things we’re busy with (the things we prioritize above becoming aware that God is the only thing keeping us from experiencing eternal damnation)?

Answer 5

We’re busy with “the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own presevation”

Question 6

According to Edwards, are we aware that we are being kept out of Hell, much less that God is responsible for it?

Answer 6

No;
We find ourselves in said situations but we’re too busy with worldly concerns to even consider that God is the one behind it

Question 7

According to John, what will “have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of Hell”?

Answer 7

“Your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and bext contrivance, and all your righteousness”

Question 8

“Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God,” what would happen/be present?

Answer 8

“The earth would not bear you one moment”;
“The world would spew you out”;
“There are black clouds of God’s wwrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder”;
“Stays his rought wind”

Question 9

What simile does Edwards use to compare God’s wrath to?

Answer 9

“Like great waters that are dammed for the present”

Question 10

What does Edwards mean by “the sovereign pleasure of God”?

Answer 10

“God’s supreme happiness”

Question 11

What literary devices does Edwards use when he describes God’s wrath?

Answer 11

Simile, polysyndeton, hyperbole, and alliteration

Question 12

Where is alliteration located in the reading?

Answer 12

“…and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God…forth with inconceivable fury”;
“…strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in Hell”

Question 13

What is a common theme with the similes Edwards uses?

Answer 13

They all put the listener or reader in a dangerous situation

Question 14

According to Edwards, who are at the hands of an angry God?

Answer 14

People who “never passed under a great change of heart”;
People who were not baptized but raised children “dead in sin” despite being unexperienced in light and life

Question 15

According to Edwards, how does God look upon the people He lets hold his hand?

Answer 15

“Much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire”;
So pretty much, God hates you and wants nothing to do with you;
“You are ten thousand times more abominable in His eyes than the most hateful venemous serpent is in ours”

Question 16

Can you save yourself at this very moment, where you are hanging from the hand of an angry God?

Answer 16

According to Edwards, no;
There is absolutely NOTHING you can do

Question 17

According to Edwards, will God be merciless in His execution of you?

Answer 17

Somewhat;
He will not hold back, He will make sure justice is served, but that’s about it;
The sinner will “not suffer beyong what strict justice requires”

Question 18

When the day of mercy pasts, will God still be merciful towards you?

Answer 18

According to Edwards, no;
You are but a mere vessel of wrath fitted to destruction

Question 19

According to Edwards, what do his listeners mistakenly feel keeps them from falling into hell?

Answer 19

Their “prudence and care to preserve their own lives”

Question 20

What allusion does Edwards make towards the end?

Answer 20

To Sodom;
Genesis 19:17 “Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.”

Question 21

Edwards states that the sinners can obtain salvation. How?

Answer 21

By taking advantage of the extraordinary opportunity before them;
Taking the open door of mercy before them;
More specifically, by letting their hearts be filled with love to Him who has loved them, and washed them from the sins in His own blood, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God

Question 22

What does Edwards means when he refers to the people that have not been born again?

Answer 22

People who have not accepted Christ;
People who have a person relationship with Christ state that they were “born again”