3
salvation; no metaphor is too strong, no emotion too powerful to be left out in times such
as these. Corporately, the times--and Edwards' sermons--offer speaker and listener the
opportunity to be central characters in sacred history."
The Biblical Text
The biblical text of the sermon is Isaiah 33:14, "The sinners in Zion are afraid;
fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring
fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"
This sermon follows Edwards's standard sermon structure. He begins the sermon
with an exposition of this biblical text. The preacher asserts that two kinds of persons are
found "among God's professing people. The one are the truly godly . . . and the other are
the sinners in Zion, or hypocrites."
groups are contrasted. The former are promised blessings from God. The latter are
warned and threatened with the wrath and judgment of God. In short, "God will execute
wrath on ungodly men in such a manner as extraordinarily to show forth his great and
mighty power. The destruction and misery of the wicked will be so dreadful, that it shall
be a great manifestation of the omnipotent power of God, that he can execute misery that
is so dreadful."
Edwards explains that there is an agricultural metaphor underlying this text, and
argues for three points of comparison. First, the farming practice of burning the stubble
3
Harry S. Stout and Nathan O. Hatch, with Kyle P. Farley, "Sinners in Zion," in Sermons and
Discourses 1739-1742, ed. Harry S. Stout and Nathan O. Hatch, with Kyle P. Farley, vol. 22 of The Works
of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 262.
4
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in Zion," in Sermons and Discourses 1739-1742, ed. Harry S. Stout
and Nathan O. Hatch, with Kyle P. Farley, vol. 22 of The Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2003), 265.
5
"Sinners in Zion," 265.
6
"Sinners in Zion," 267.