I. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

A. Exposed to a Fall

1. That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction’s coming upon them, being represented by their foot’s sliding. The same is expressed, Ps. 73:18. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction." It implies that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall; he can’t foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once, without warning.

B. There is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.

C. They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God's using his power at any moment to destroy them.

D. There is this clear evidence that men's own wisdom is no security to them from death.

E. So that thus it is, that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold ‘em up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out; and they have no interest in any mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them.

II. The Meaning of the Great Awakening

A. Spiritual Life in a Material Age

B. Self-Creation and Divine Providence

C. Submission to God

D. The New World

Perspectives: Reading Papers

[Hogarth, A Beggar’s Opera] Lavinia Fenton as Polly Peachum; Duke of Bolton on far right]

By way of transition, I’d like to show you a painting from 1731 that illustrates several of the themes we’ve been talking about. Here, there’s a play going on, John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, but we’ve also got the audience included in the picture. That’s Lavinia Fenton as Polly Peachum; the Duke of Bolton is over here, looking at her—she’s his mistress. All around everyone sees the play, and them—society has become a kind of spectacle, and with this vision comes the power to judge.

I. The Age of Print

A. The Eighteenth-Century Internet and the Public Sphere

B. Mercurius Publicus: Muddiman’s Fights Back

C. Daniel Defoe’s Review and the Treaty of Union (1707)

D. Pseudonyms and the Libel Laws

II. John Addison and Richard Steele: The Tatler and The Spectator

A. “Isaac Bickerstaff”

B. “Mr. Spectator”

C. Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and Richard Steele (1672-1729)

D. Eliza Haywood: “The Female Spectator”

III. Midterm Review

A. The Authors and Works

1. John Milton, Paradise Lost

2. Samuel Pepys, Diaries

3. Ann Bradstreet, “Prologue” and “Contemplations”

4. Michael Wigglesworth, “Day of Doom”

5. Mary Rowlandson, Narrative

6. John Dryden, “Absalom and Achitophel”

7. Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

8. William Wycherly, The Country Wife

9.  Cotton Mather, “The Wonders of the Invisible World”

10. Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

11. Addison, Steele, Haywood, and Defoe: Periodical Writers

B. The Genres

1. Epic Poem

2. Diary and Personal Narrative

3. Lyric Poem

4. Narrative Poem

5. Novel

6. Sermon

7. Newspaper and Periodical

C. The Major Themes

1. The Restoration

2. Puritans and Puritanism

3. Sin and Judgment Day

4. The Savage Other

5. Succession and Stability

6. Desire and Fidelity