The sermons and discourses in this volume chart the rise and decline of the Great Awakening in Jonathan Edwards’ parish in Northampton, Massachusetts, and beyond. A leading figure of the revival period, Edwards delivered potent and wide-ranging sermons during the years 1739–42. In this volume the transcript of the original manuscript of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is reproduced for the first time, along with the text of its first printed edition.
Seeking to nourish the emerging revival spirit, Edwards preached on the glory of saints in heaven, the dangers and opportunities of the unregenerate on earth, and the torment of the damned and devils in hell. As the revival progressed he became ever more critical of participants’ behavior, and with its decline he attempted—without success—to compel godliness.
